Music equals Life
by dfxcm
Summary: BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. A passionate teenager that loves to DJ, Kozue Annen. Friends with Koyuki since they were young. How will this music maker develop a relationship with Tsunemi Chiba, Ryusuke Minami, Yoshiyuki Taira, and Yuji "Saku" Sakurai.
1. The Girl Who Worked Her Hardest

Hello! This is a new story of mine called **Music equals Life **and it's about BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. I decided to try something new with this story and use Japanese in it when they talk. I mean, yeah, they're always talking in Japanese because that's just how it works. You'll see what I mean when you read. If you don't like that way, just tell me and I'll have the next chapter entirely in English. Well then, please enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Shoot, I **wish** I owned a piece of BECK, not for like money or anything, but shoot, BECK is just kick ass.

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"…_(Science + Arts) Faith / # of our ethnic race_

_Let me mention what I've been thinking_

_How to save the children, when the ship is sinking_

_So I'm singing, no lip syncing to slogans,_

_Political hooligans with tanks, missiles, and guns…"_

The calm beat and the lyrics that were committed to memory flowed into Kozue's ears as she mouthed them.

"Yo! Koyuki!" She took off her huge headphones and let them hang around her neck. "Interesting to see you around here. Eh? Is that a guitar on your back?"

"A-ah, yeah. I'm not very good though," he replied while looking embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Why are you here, Kozue?"

"Watashi?" she asked while pointing to herself. "I was just hanging around some club so I could listen to my friend DJ." ("Me?")

They walked together in the dark night to a convenience store. She bought them both some juice before starting their walk home. "How long have you been playing?"

"Honestly not that long," Koyuki admitted. "The band I'm in does have some gigs though."

"Hmm?" Kozue sounded, interested to hear more. "Already getting gigs, huh? You'll have to invite me sometime."

"E-eh? Ah, hai!!" he replied. "We have a gig on Thursday. I'll even introduce you to the band!" ("W-what? Oh, yes!!")

Koyuki wrote down the address on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Zettai… iki-masu," she replied. "Saa… ja mata!" ("I'll definitely go. So, see ya!")

Koyuki waved as Kozue walked away down a street while putting her headphones back on. Kozue was a year older than Koyuki. They met by chance when Koyuki was an elementary school student and kids his own age were picking on him age for being short. Kozue was quite tall for her age and just passing by at that time and decided to go save him.

Thursday night, Kozue was standing in the middle of the crowd waiting for Koyuki and his band. When they did come on the stage and started playing, she was quite impressed with their sound. When she saw their guitarist, Kozue was quite irritated, but did her best to keep in her anger while enjoying their live gig.

Once they finished, Koyuki invited Kozue to come with them to dinner. They sat down at a table and Koyuki introduced them.

"Minna, kochira wa Annen Kozue desu," he said while gesturing towards her. "Kozue, this is our bassist Taira, our main vocalist Chiba, our drummer Saku, and our lead guitarist Ryusuke." ("Everyone, this person here is Kozue Annen.")

Kozue got along well with Chiba, Taira, and Saku, but she seemed to completely ignore Ryusuke, who seemed to be trying to make himself seem as small as possible.

"Uh, Kozue, did you know that Ryusuke and Eddie Lee from Dying Breeds were friends?" Koyuki asked nervously.

"Un," was her cold reply. ("Yeah.")

"So Ko-chan, what did you think of our live today?" Chiba asked. It was obvious he was trying to appeal to her as much as possible.

"Hmm… sou desu ne…" she said slowly, giving it some real thought. "Maa… ii desu." ("That's right…" "It was alright.")

"That's it?!" Chiba asked slightly outraged.

"Un, sou da. Nante iu ka..." She replied honestly, "Anata no eigo no rappu wa… dame desu. Watashi no mimi wa itai desu." ("Yeah, that's right. How do you say it… You're English raps are… no good. My ears hurt.")

"That's insane! They're my lyrics!" Chiba shouted. "If the feeling gets emitted then it's fine right?!"

"In most cases," she said seriously, "but when someone that speaks English hears it, they're gonna think, 'This person is rapping in English but they can't even speak it right.' Is that what you want them to think? Ryusuke, you speak English, so why didn't you fix it?"

Ryusuke didn't reply to the firm girl and just sipped his juice. Kozue looked at her watch and said, "Ah! Sumi masen! Kaeri masu. Shitsurei shimasu." ("Sorry! I'm going home. Excuse me.")

The five guys were speechless as she quickly got up from the table, leaving a bit of cash, before rushing home.

"What was that about?" Saku asked, voicing almost everyone's thoughts.

"Apparently she's gotta get home," Ryusuke replied coolly as a bead of sweat rolled down his face.

Kozue got home a little late and quietly entered her family's apartment. "Tadaima," she whispered into the quiet home while she took off her shoes. ("I'm home.")

"Ah! O-nee-sama! O-kaeri!" a young voice piped as someone popped out from around the corner. (Honorable way of saying "Older sister". "Welcome home!")

"Takeshi? Why are you still awake at this hour?" Kozue asked as she walked over to her younger brother.

"O-kaa-san found some old home videos and she was showing us!" Takeshi said as he pulled his sister further into the small apartment. "Mite! Mite!" ("Mom." "Look! Look!")

"O-kaa-san to Satoshi wa doko ni iru?" she asked as she sat down. "Where are mom and Satoshi?"

"Satoshi is in the bathroom going number two and kaa-san ran out to buy some popcorn," he replied before laughing as he watched his twin brother fall over in the video.

The two of them were sucked in for about ten minutes when they heard the toilet flush and a door slide open. "Ah. O-nee-sama. O-kaeri nasai," Satoshi replied. ("Sister, welcome home.")

"Did you wash your hands?" Kozue asked as she turned around to look at her other brother, who went back into the bathroom. She smiled to herself and stood up. "Hai, hai. Time to go to sleep!" ("Alright, alright.")

"Ehhhh?!" both of her brothers went. Satoshi came back out of the bathroom and said, "O-kaa-san is still out buying the popcorn."

"It's already late and you two have school tomorrow," she replied. "We can always watch tomorrow night."

"Hai…" the two of them grumbled as the three of them got out the futons from the closet and laid them out all next to each other. All the blankets were put on top of the futons and then Kozue went and turned off the light before she climbed into her own futon.

"O-yasumi nasai," she said to her younger brothers. ("Good night.")

"O-yasumi," both of her voices rang and they all fell asleep. It wasn't long before Kozue woke up from her nap to the sound of the front door though. She sat up and rubbed her eyes at the dim light. ("Good night.")

"Ah, o-kaa-san, o-kaeri," quite aware of her sleeping siblings, Kozue greeted their mother quietly. ("Mom, welcome home.")

"Kozue!" her mother whispered loudly. "Did I wake you? Gomen ne?" ("I'm sorry.")

"Daijoubu da," Kozue replied as she quietly climbed out of her futon. "Did you bring home the popcorn?" ("It's alright.")

"Un," her mom replied as she placed it on the counter. "Are you going to work now?"

Kozue looked at the clock hanging in their kitchen wall and replied, "Soro soro…" ("In just a short while…")

Her mom smiled and said, "Itterasshai." ("Have a safe trip.")

Kozue smiled back and nodded. "Un. Ittekimasu," she whispered. ("Yeah. I'm going.")

The walk to the convenience store that Kozue worked at was lonely and a little scary, but work was work. In the back of the store she changed into her uniform and then manned the counter with a smile in case any customers were to come. Her co-worker came out from the back with some crates and greeted her.

"Konban wa," he greeted. ("Good evening.")

Kozue nodded and replied, "Konban wa, Hideaki-san." ("Good evening, Hideaki-san.")

"Hard at work, huh?" he asked her as he made himself some coffee. She nodded and thought about what a great guy he was. Hideaki was a college student, so he was only a few years older than Kozue. He had helped her get the part-time job at the convenience store since she wasn't quite sixteen just yet.

She nodded and said, "Ganbari masu. How has school been lately?" ("I'm doing my best.")

"Maa maa. Muzukashii desu," he said as he restacked some shelves. "Teachers have been surprising us with quizzes lately." ("So-so. It's difficult.")

"Ganbatte, ne?" she encouraged him and the automatic doors opened with a bell ring. "Irasshaimase!" ("Do your best, okay?" "Welcome!")

Kozue worked hard, despite the little business there was at the late hours of the night, and received pay from her manager. Both Hideaki and Kozue got off at the same time so they both left work together. There was no sense of any danger seeing as the sky was slowly starting to lighten.

They were walking the same way home, when they were getting close to their split up point. "Ki o tsukete," he said. "Don't push yourself too much." ("Take care.")

She nodded and replied, "Hideaki-san mo. Mata ashita!" ("You too. Until tomorrow.")

"Un. Mata ashita," he replied and they both walked their separate ways home. ("Until tomorrow.")

Instead of going to sleep when she got home, Kozue quickly but efficiently prepared her brothers' bentos by the time they woke up and got ready for school. While she wrapped their lunches up, her mom began to prepare breakfast for them. Kozue set up the table and helped serve the food.

"Itadakimasu!" they all said in unison before eating. ("Thank you for the food.")

Kozue handed the bentos she made to her little brothers, who said, "Ittekimasu!!"

"Itterasshai!!" both she and her mother replied as Satoshi and Takeshi walked out the door. Kozue turned back and began to clear the table. Her mother took the plate she was holding from her though.

"Kaa-san," she said in surprise.

"Daijoubu dayo," he mother stated. "Hora, you can barely keep your eyes open." ("It's okay. Look…")

"Hai, wakatta," Kozue replied reluctantly as she changed into pajamas before she climbed into the futon she and her mother shared. It didn't take her long to fall asleep. ("Alright, I get it.")

Her mother, who shook her gently, soon woke the regular teenage girl up. Kozue got up feeling refreshed and asked, "Ima nanji desu ka?" ("What time is it?")

Her mother glanced at the kitchen clock and said, "Ichi-ji gojuugo-fun desu." ("It is 1:55.")

Kozue folded up the worn out futon and the blanket and placed it neatly on top of the others in the closet. Having time before she had to pick up her brothers, Kozue took a bath and then quickly set out so she'd have some time to herself.

"Ittekimasu!!" she called over her shoulder once she managed to get her shoes on. ("I'm going!")

"Itterasshai!!" her mother replied. ("Have a nice trip!!")

Kozue walked down the familiar path she took to get to Satoshi and Takeshi's school. It was a sunny day and there was a light breeze. Her headphones weren't playing hip hop this time, it was a rock song that she had fallen in love within the first few seconds of hearing it. The song made her heart ache and she loved it.

"…_I just saw you_

_Kankaku dake kodama shiteru_

_Fushigi na kurai ni_

_Kehai wo kanjite…"_

Kozue arrived at their elementary school, the same one that she had gone to as a child. It made her happy to arrive to a place so nostalgic and full of happier memories. It was just about time that school ended and she stood there smiling, waiting for the school bell to ring. Kozue checked her watch and closed her eyes, waiting for that bell to sound.

The chime of the bell made her feel at home again and she took a deep refreshing breath in as the breeze ran through her hair. She hung her headphones around her neck and watched as both teachers and students left the building. The teachers waited by the gates to watch the kids walk off safely.

"Ah! Kozue-chan! O-hisashi buri desu!" called a female teacher. ("It's been a while since I've last seen you!")

Kozue smiled and carefully walked across the street. She bowed politely and said, "Konnichi wa, Nishida-sensei. I see you're on duty today." ("Good afternoon, Miss Nishida.")

"Sou desu," the teacher replied. "O-genki desu ka?" (Informal way of saying, "How are you?")

"O-kage sama de, genki desu," Kozue replied while keeping an eye out for Satoshi and Takeshi. "Nishida-sensei wa?" ("I'm fine, thank you. And you?")

"Watashi mo genki desu, arigatou gozai masu," her former teacher replied. ("I'm fine too, thank you.")

"I hope Satoshi and Takeshi aren't giving you any trouble," Kozue said.

"Not at all," Miss Nishida replied. "How's your mother?"

"She's good and healthy," Kozue replied when she saw her brothers walk out of the school.

"And your father-"

"Satoshi! Takeshi!" Kozue called her two brothers, accidentally cutting off Miss Nishida. She waved to them and they walked over.

"O-nee-san," Satoshi said once they reached their older sister and their teacher.

"Saa, ikou ka?" Kozue asked as she looked at her younger brother. ("So, shall we go now?")

"Un," Takeshi replied and he and his brother started walking off.

Kozue turned to Miss Nishida and gave a small bow. "Shitsurei shimasu. Sore dewa mata, Nishida-sensei." ("Excuse me." "See you next time.")

The elementary teacher smiled as kids kept walking through the gates. "Mata, ne?" she replied and Kozue walked off with her younger brothers. ("Next time.")

"Saa, nani ga tabetai desu ka?" the older sister asked as they walked into a supermarket. ("So what do you want to eat?")

"Niku. Niku!" Takeshi said. ("Meat. Meat!")

"Hai, hai. Satoshi wa?" ("Okay, okay. What about Satoshi?")

"Nandemo ii desu," he replied while looking at everything in the supermarket. It seemed that no matter how often they came, he always seemed to be slightly fascinated with the food on the shelves. ("Anything is fine.")

They walked around, grabbing various things to eat for dinner while being mindful of time.

"Ah! Ko-chan!" Someone approached Kozue and she was caught by surprise. It was Chiba. "What are you doing here?"

She pointed to her little brothers, who were investigating things on the shelves of different isles and said, "We're shopping for dinner."

Chiba checked his watch and then took a quick glance at their half full basket of groceries. He rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "How long have you been shopping?"

Kozue looked at her watch and as she did, Takeshi dropped something in the basket. "About half an hour I think."

Chiba got an uneasy feeling, but decided to ask what was on his mind. "Don't you go to school?"

Kozue blinked in surprise, but replied with calmness. "No," and then she turned to Takeshi and asked, "What is this?"

"Cake mix," he replied.

"Who will be making this cake mix?" she asked with a neutral voice.

"…Kaa-san," he replied while Satoshi came back out of an isle with his somewhat small arms full of boxes.

"…I think you two need to learn the concept of saving money," Kozue said as she walked over to them. "Our groceries can't consist of mainly snacks and junk food. Now let's go put some of them back."

Once they had settled on one snack, Kozue went back to Chiba and apologized. "Sumi masen. My brothers are a bit of a handful when they go to the supermarket." ("Sorry about that.")

"Ii dayo," Chiba replied, but their previous topic was still their main concern. "So I was wondering, why don't you go to school?" ("It's alright.")

"Ah, are?" she asked. "I work part-time jobs to support my family. We can't really afford to pay tuition for high school, but I try and save enough money so both of my brothers can." ("Oh, that?")

"And your parents?"

"Our mother is a stay-at-home mom and our dad is overseas on business," she replied. "He sends us money once a month to last us about a week."

"So you pay for all the bills?" the punk rapper asked in amazement.

She nodded her head and replied, "Maa, ne?" ("I guess so, huh?")

Kozue and her brothers all went to checkout and purchased their groceries. There were three bags and Chiba carried them all despite how much Kozue protested. They walked up the stairs to their apartment and the two twins opened the door and rushed inside.

"Okaeri!" their mother greeted and they all stepped inside including Chiba who said awkwardly, "Ojamashimasu." ("Welcome back!" "I'm going to intrude.")

"Ah, you brought a guest over," Kozue's mother noticed as Chiba put the plastic bags on the table.

Kozue nodded and said, "Kaa-san, this is Chiba. Chiba, this is my mom."

"Hajime mashite," Chiba replied politely with a bow. ("Nice to meet you.")

"Iie, iie. Thank you for watching after my daughter," the mother replied back with a bow. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Ah, actually I better get going," Chiba said. "Shitsurei shimasu." ("Excuse me.")

"Matte kudasai," Kozue said and followed him to the door. The two of them put on their shoes and went outside. ("Wait please.")

"What is it?" Chiba asked as they started walking back down the stairs.

"Nan demo nai," she replied. "It's just that I thought I'd walk you home." ("It's nothing.")

"What? Are you an idiot or something? Guys walk the girls home," he stated.

"I've got time before I've got to go to work," Kozue replied.

Chiba sighed and said, "Alright then. I'll just walk you to work then."

They were walking around when Chiba said, "You've got a nice family. Are you all always so… behaved?"

Kozue chuckled and said, "Not really. Takeshi gets into fights every now and then and Satoshi mostly likes to keep to himself. Our mother does her best to keep the apartment a livable place and teach her kids good manners."

"You talk like you're not part of the family anymore," Chiba pointed out.

Kozue shrugged and with a smile said, "I try my best to be there for them all. They know I work hard so that they can have fun video games. When I'm home, they especially know not to fight or else I'll snap and get very angry with them. For my family's sake, I make sure that they're happy and that makes me happy in return."

Chiba smiled and said, "Sure, if that works for ya."

"I'll see you around Chiba," Kozue replied as she walked into a restaurant. Chiba looked around and saw that they were in a rather busy part of the city. They were near the train station so that meant that they'd most likely get a lot of business around the time that all business workers get off.

Kozue changed her clothes in the back in a hurry. She donned on khaki shorts, a white T-shirt with the restaurant's logo on the back, and then quickly put on her apron before going out and taking orders. Her happy and optimistic air made tired and stressed business workers feel refreshed and they had quite a few customers who came to the restaurant just to have all the tension in their shoulders released by watching this teenage girl work her hardest without a single frown or complaint.

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So what did you think? Too much Japanese used? Good story? Let me know in a review please. If you don't have a fanfiction account you can still submit a review. Thank you for reading!

Also, for fun... Guess the song name of the lyrics!! Submit a review guessing the name of the lyrics! No cheating please. I'll reveal it in the next chapter!


	2. Kyou No Gesuto Wa

Ahahah. Sorry about the 19 days wait. How did you like the first chapter? It was long wasn't it? I'm sorry this one is a tad bit long too...

**Note:** The two songs in the last chapter were "Luv Sic Pt. 2" by shing02 and "Shallow Sleep" by Hyde. Two very respectable Japanese artists.

**Disclaimer:** BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad is just too awesome... too awesome to be owned by me as much as I hate to say it.

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Kozue changed her clothes in the back in a hurry. She donned on khaki shorts, a white T-shirt with the restaurant's logo on the back, and then quickly put on her apron before going out and taking orders. Her happy and optimistic air made tired and stressed business workers feel refreshed and they had quite a few customers who came to the restaurant just to have all the tension in their shoulders released by watching this teenage girl work her hardest without a single frown or complaint.

After cleaning up a table, her boss tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around in surprised and looked up at him. "You've worked hard today, Kozue. Why don't you go home early today? It's a Friday," he said with a smile.

Kozue glanced at the clock and her eyes widened in surprise. "There's still half an hour left for my shift!"

Her boss laughed and walked away saying, "Don't worry about working. You're still young. Enjoy it while you can."

Stunned, Kozue didn't move for a moment until she gave a deep bow and thanked him. "Arigatou gozai masu!" she said loudly and although she didn't see it, he waved back. ("Thank you very much!")

Kozue changed back into her regular clothes and when she came back out, her boss handed Kozue her pay. She counted it and saw that he had given her a little extra. It nearly made her cry having such nice people to work with. Getting off work early, she had about an hour to herself, where she would normally go back home to take a nap. This time, she decided to go out and do something she would enjoy.

The middle-aged teenager quickly entered the back entrance of a club, thankfully knowing the bodyguards. She made her way up to the equipment, which was currently in use by a fellow DJ that worked at the club. He smiled and moved out of the way for her. She quickly took a few things out of her pocket and played a track that she scratched.

"_K-Kyou no… Kyou no ge-ge-gesuto wa…"_ sounded out of the speakers. This had been sampled from probably her favorite variety show, _Domoto Kyoudai _hosted by KinKi Kids. "Kuh-Kuh-Kuh-Konen." ("Today's guest is…")

Konen was Kozue's DJ name. She wasn't well known, but she often came to this small club to practice. It was something she had fooled around with after work once when she was working with for a restaurant and was catering at this party. The DJ saw her curiosity when she was trying to imitate her and decided to teach her in their spare time. At the moment, she only owned a record player that was originally her parents', a couple of records that also belonged to her parents', and a pair of her own headphones. She didn't have enough equipment to hook her iPod up and play songs from there. Obviously, there wasn't much practice going on at home.

Whenever regulars came to the club, they knew it was "Konen" DJing when there would not only be songs and samples in Japanese, but also from famous and not so famous English songs.

When Kozue DJed, she was particular when it came to sampling and playing songs in English. She spent hours in middle school listening to English songs and looking at their lyrics. To her, just because a song **sounded** cool, doesn't mean the lyrics were. Luckily she grew up bilingual so she'd understand English.

After about forty-five minutes, Kozue left, but not before announcing it with the classic "Goodbye" heard on AOL when you sign off.

Kozue exited out the backdoor, from where she entered and bowed happily to the security guard. Even if something like DJing wouldn't get her anywhere in life, even if she couldn't make a living out of it, it was a hobby she enjoyed every moment she could. She often left her iPod on shuffle and often took apart songs in her head, to try and think what song would sound nice with what beat and what part could be sampled. Music was Kozue's passion.

Having some spare change on her, Kozue walked over to the nearest telephone box and called home.

"Moshi moshi? Annen desu," her mother's voice said into the phone. ("Hello? Annen residence.")

"O-kaa-san, it's pretty late to call, but I won't be stopping by to take a nap," she informed her mother, hoping she wasn't worrying. "I got off work an hour early and stopped by a club. I'm just going to go to walk around for a while now before I go to work."

Kozue inserted another coin into the telephone box. She could hear her mother smile on the other side of the phone. Her mother was often happy to hear that she was doing fun things around other people. "There'll be some dinner waiting for you in the fridge. After you sleep in the morning, I'll be out during the afternoon so I won't be able to wake you up."

"Un. Wakatta. Ja, o-yasumi nasai," Kozue said and hung up after her mother replied. ("Alright. Gotcha. So, good night.")

Kozue hung up the payphone and started walking to work, which was only about a 15 minute walk away. She smiled to herself, her heart beating fast with a certain kind of happiness that only music could bring her.

She entered the convenience store and greeted Hideaki with a smile as she entered before walking to the back to change. When Kozue came back out, she had a cart of boxes and started restacking the shelves.

"You seem happy. Did you finally get picked up?" Hideaki asked as he leaned over the counter. The convenience store was open twenty-four hours, but so far during their shift, no one was there so it was fine to be this laid-back.

"Chigaimasu," Kozue replied happily as she stacked the shelves with junk food. "I got off my other job an hour early so I went to DJ at a club." ("Wrong.")

"Uwah that would've made you happy," Hideaki agreed. "We've been working together for two and a half months and I have yet to hear you DJ. Are you any good?"

"Saa even if you ask me that, I wouldn't know how good I am," she replied as she quickly picked up the box she had just emptied out and put it in the back room. She then moved the boxes into another aisle and opened another box.

The store's automatic doors opened and the bell dinged. "Irasshaimase!" Hideaki greeted with a big smile. ("Welcome!")

The customer went down the aisles probably just looking for a midnight snack. He went down Kozue's aisle when he did a double take. "Kozue?!" he exclaimed and quickly covered his mouth.

Kozue looked up in the middle of her stacking and saw Koyuki. "Ou! Koyuki! What are you doing here this late?"

"I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd go out for a walk and I decided to go and buy something to eat," he replied.

Kozue put her current duty on hold and stood up and stretched. "Sorry about last time. I didn't realize how late it had gotten and I had to rush home," she apologized.

Koyuki shook his head and replied, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. I was thinking, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

Kozue heard Hideaki clear his throat. She looked around Koyuki to see Hideaki lift his eyebrows and put on an I-saw-it-coming face.

"Well I've got work. Why?" she asked.

"Beck is having band practice tomorrow around 2 o'clock and I was wondering if you'd like to go," he suggested.

Kozue thought about it. It was fun to hang out with friends, but it's not like she could just blow off work. She felt guilty, but hanging out with friends wasn't going to help her pay the bills. She smiled and apologized. "Sorry, but I've got work around that time."

"That's a shame," he said and bought some candy real quick. He borrowed a pen and quickly wrote something down on the receipt. He went back over to Kozue and handed it to her. "If you get off early or something, you should stop by."

She nodded happily and said, "Yeah! Thanks. I'll be sure to stop by when I can."

"See ya, Kozue," Koyuki said and waved before leaving the store.

"Sounds like a date to me," Hideaki said and gestured his head to where Koyuki just left.

"Believe what you like," Kozue said not offended at all as she moved onto another aisle. "I know what is what."

Hideaki laughed and was amazed at her positive attitude. "I don't know how you don't get tired of being so… well, happy!"

A sudden giggle emerged from Kozue's lips and she just smiled back as she had finally finished restacking all the shelves. She picked up the empty boxes and brought them to the back. For the rest of the store, they stood there behind the counter waiting for customers to enter their humble little convenience store.

When her shift was over, Kozue didn't wait for Hideaki. "Ja!" was all she said before rushing home. ("See ya!")

It was like this every Saturday morning. Kozue would leave without Hideaki. He preferred assuring her safety, but he understood that Fridays would be tiring for a fifteen-year-old that has to pick up her brothers from school and then go buy groceries for their dinner. Then afterwards having to go to work at a restaurant. At least she got to DJ for fun though.

Kozue didn't run her way home, but when she got there, she immediately started cooking breakfast. Her mother and brothers were barely awake when she was setting the table and waking them up with a gentle voice. Her mother woke up a little bewildered that all the cooking was already done. Satoshi and Takeshi on the other hand were hungry growing boys and couldn't wait to eat.

Saturday morning breakfasts' were always the largest compared to the rest of the other days of the week. Kozue made them big so that when she got full after eating, she'd feel sleepy, and also that there would be leftovers for lunch if anyone wanted them.

"Itadakimasu" they all said before the three children started scarfing down their food as if it was going to disappear before their very eyes if they didn't eat fast enough. Their mother ate slowly and chewed thoroughly as she watched her children with a smile on her face.

When they all finished breakfast, Kozue excused herself from the table. "Gochisousama deshita," she said and then sleepily changed into pajamas before climbing into the only futon on the floor.

Saturday mornings were also not only the only morning Kozue made a big breakfast, but also the only day she didn't have to do dishes. She had work at around 2 o'clock and with it being almost 8 o'clock, Kozue would get barely seven hours of sleep. Sleep that someone like her desperately needed.

Later that afternoon, Kozue's mother woke her up the same way as always. Kozue realized she forgot to take off her watch before sleeping and looked at the time. She was on schedule and quickly changed into her short-sleeved button-up shirt for work and threw on the jeans she wore yesterday. Grabbing her keys and wallet, Kozue pulled on her shoes and shouted, "Ittekimasu!!" ("I'm going!!")

"Itterasshai!!" her mother barely replied as Kozue bolted out the door. ("Have a safe trip!!")

A normal teenager's mode of transportation would be the train or by bicycle. Kozue's job was nearby, but was still about a twenty-minute walk, since she didn't own a bicycle. Kozue was quite fond of this part-time job. It was at a pastry shop and every now and then as a bonus instead of money, she'd receive some cakes or things and bring them home to her family. She only worked there every other Saturday afternoon and she's only worked seven Saturdays, which was about a span over about three months.

When she arrived at her destination, Kozue was… shocked. She walked over to the glass doors and looked at the sign taped in front of it. 'Temporarily closed for maintenance,' it read.

At the bottom of the glass door was another sign, which ended up being a note. 'Annen-san, we're REALLY sorry about this so short notice. One of the pipes just EXPLODED!! Once the pipe is repaired and the shop starts running again, you'll get a double bonus and even pay for today. We really appreciate you here at work! Please don't quit. Hearts XOXO Manager.'

Kozue stood up and giggled at the slightly embarrassing note, but still appreciated it that the manager cared so much. She gave a lopsided grin and muttered to herself, "Even if you say that, what am I gonna do about having no pay **today**?"

The optimistic teen smiled to herself and thought, "At least the week after next we'll have some extra money. It's good it's Saturday and that there's a lot of leftovers. I just hope okaa-san and them can handle the same thing the entire day."

She searched her pockets for spare change as she approached a telephone box when a piece of paper fell out of her pocket. Kozue picked it up and unfolded it. It was the receipt that Koyuki had written on informing her where their practice was. Well at least she'd have something to do to fill up time meant for working. Finding some change, she finally was able to call her house.

"Moshi moshi, Annen-desu," her mother said into the phone. ("Hello, this is the Annen residence.")

"O-kaa-san."

"Kozue, dou ka shita?" her mother asked worriedly, knowing well that Kozue was supposed to be working. ("What's wrong?")

"Apparently one of the pipes at work busted so the pastry store is closed until it gets repaired," Kozue said into the phone with a neutral tone. She wasn't devastated that the pastry shop was closed, but instead she saw it as "thank goodness it was the weekend or else I'd be worried about what we're going to eat for dinner". Also, she didn't want her mother to worry.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said quickly and inserted another coin. "It happened before I got to work. Anyway, my friend invited me to their band practice and I thought I'd go. It's actually near here."

"Well you just go and have fun then!!" her mother said so enthusiastically she almost sounded like she was going to cry. It probably made her so happy to hear that she was going to hang out with friends rather than go and immediately find another job.

"O-okay then. Bye!' Kozue said and hung up the phone after her mom replied.

Not wanting to be a terrible burden on them for coming during practice, Kozue made a quick stop at a nearby convenience store and picked up some drinks.

She started walking around looking for the place Koyuki and his band were going to be having practice. After finding the place and entering the building, Kozue stood outside their practice room and watched them through the glass while they were practicing a song. She only entered when they started arguing.

"Ah! Kozue! You came," Koyuki said deciding to ignore Ryusuke and Chiba argue. Everyone went quiet and watched as Kozue entered quietly with a small bow. "What did you bring?"

She lifted up the bag and said, "I didn't want to be intruding without a reason so I bought you guys some drinks."

"Ii ne. Doumo arigatou," Saku thanked her from behind the drum set. The room they were in was somewhat small and packed with equipment making it hard to walk around freely without bumping into something. ("That's great. Thank you.")

"Dou itashi mashite," she replied and opened the bag so they could pick the drink that they wanted. ("You're welcome.")

All of a sudden, a hand was holding something out for her. She looked up and saw Taira gulping down his drink and looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Kozue held out one hand and Taira dropped some money into it before walking away.

"Chotto!!" she called after him. "You didn't need to pay me!" ("Hold on!")

He didn't seem to be listening however as he placed his drink on one of the amps and threw on his bass guitar. The rest of the guys thanked her many times as they returned to their instruments. Kozue leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, preparing herself for the rawness of Beck during practice.

Her mind nearly exploded. Their music made her feel like… like… crying, dropping to her knees, and throwing up at the same time. It was just incredibly amazing. Her lips quivered as she asked, "What's the name of that song?"

"Slip Out," Koyuki replied. "Do you like it?"

Kozue kept quiet and everyone saw her shoulders shaking terribly. "SUGE NA!" she suddenly shouted. Her eyes were shining as brightly as the lights hanging from the ceiling. ("That's amazing!")

The next song that they practiced nearly knocked Kozue off her feet. It was certainly a change of pace as Chiba was rapping.

After practice, they were walking around all together. Taira had warmed up to Kozue and asked her, "So do you play anything?"

"Ahh, iie. Betsuni," she replied shyly. "I wish I could sing or play guitar maybe, but I'm terrible. I can only DJ, but even that I'm not that good at." ("Ahh, no. Not really.")

Chiba's eyes widened. "You DJ, Ko-chan?" he asked.

Kozue nodded and replied, "Hai. Sou desu. I started learning in middle school. By the way Chiba, you should work on your English more. It's not that bad, but… it's something of a pet peeve for me." ("Yeah, that's right.")

They turned a corner and headed towards the station. "I was wondering Kozue," Koyuki said. "Do you understand English?"

"Hai. I'm bilingual," she explained. "My mother taught me and my brothers how to speak English so we're fluent." ("Yes.")

Koyuki smiled and suggested, "Maybe you could help Chiba with his English."

"I'd be happy to."

"Ryusuke, you speak English too right?" Saku asked the guitarist.

"Mm. Yeah…" Ryusuke kept his voice quiet and mumbled his speech. There was no reason to have Kozue breathing down his neck.

"What's with you?" Taira asked. "You're like this every time Kozue's around."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said in a very polite voice. "Ryusuke just owes me a hefty amount of money. It's nothing to worry about. Ah-!"

At that moment, Kozue sort of almost missed the sidewalk and nearly tripped if Taira hadn't caught her in time.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he helped her up.

Kozue laughed embarrassedly and said, "Oh, me?! No, don't worry about me! I'll be fine…"

Little did Taira know, Kozue's heart was beating rapidly because she had fallen. Fallen in love, that is.

They all got on the train and mostly went their separate ways. Chiba decided to take it upon himself to walk Kozue home, which she didn't mind. She liked the company.

The two of them had just walked out of the station when Chiba pulled out his wallet and handed her two 5,000 yen bills. "That's for the drinks," he said before walking towards the street corner.

"I didn't do it to be repaid," she said while trying to give him back the money.

He turned around and said light heartedly, "Don't worry about it."

"But-"

"Don't worry," he repeated and they both crossed the street.

"To pay you back, I'll help you with your English," she offered.

"Pay me back? Geeze, I paid you back for buying us all drinks!"

"You need help with you English anyway!"

"Fine. When can you help me with my English?" he asked. They had reached the other side of the street and she looked up at him and blinked twice. "…Okay… When don't you have work?"

"…"

"Do you have a cell phone?"

"Nope."

Chiba saw that one coming. "Alright, well I'll give you my number later. Call me and let me know when you can."

Kozue giggled and they reached her family's apartment. "Tadaima!"

Although Kozue was already taking off her shoes, Chiba whispered to her, "Maybe I should just wait outside…"

"What? Why?" she whispered back.

"I feel bad for not bringing anything whenever I come over especially with your mom home."

She grabbed him by the wrist and led him inside. Chiba made sure he quickly took off his shoes. "Ah, Satoshi. Your home," she said as she pulled out a seat for Chiba at the small table.

"O-kaeri," Satoshi replied in monotone as he was completely immersed in his video game. Satoshi was just leaning against the wall and hadn't even looked up once.

"Satoshi, greet our visitor too," she said trying to make him mind his manners.

"Irasshaimase," he joked in that distracted monotone voice.

Chiba laughed nervously as he beads of sweat rolled down his face. Even her younger brother was quite intimidating. Kozue poured some lemonade for both of them, which Chiba chugged.

"Listen I better be going," he said hastily as he stood up from his seat.

"Hai, hai," she said as she brought the cups to the sink to wash later and then came back with a pen and notepad. "Just write your number there and I'll call you when I've freed up some time."

He jotted down his number and headed for the door. "Thanks for the drink."

"It was nothing," she replied. "It was the least I could do for you walking me home."

"Uhh, yeahhh," Chiba blushed as he pulled on his shoes. "See ya around, Ko-chan."

* * *

I'm surprised I didn't have to put up a warning. This is a sorta new story of mine, so please review! Thank you for reading!


	3. Shake Them Dreads?

Tadaa! Chapter 3! I'm sorry if you like this story and you've been waiting for me to update, I'm sorry that I've had homework, work, illnesses, and writer's block.

**Disclaimer: **Beck is simply just too awesome for someone like me to have any shares in.

**Note: **There are lyrics in this chapter, but they do not belong to anyone but me. Yes, I wrote them. I'll tell a story after the chapter about them.

Please, enjoy.

* * *

Kozue took a nap until she had to get ready for work at the restaurant. Her brothers were both home, and they had prepared something for Kozue to eat. She quickly ate it and drank some juice. "Gochisousama!" she said. "Remind mom that I'm going to see if I can squeeze in some DJ and maybe rap time tonight so I might be home late."

"Gotcha, nee-san," Takeshi slurred, while being preoccupied with trying to beat his twin brother at a video game. Special moves were just not Takeshi's specialty compared to Satoshi.

Kozue went to work to the restaurant. Since she took a nap, she'd be extra energetic for work and still awake if there was an opening at the club she usually visited for her to perform. She tied her hair neatly, and tucked her bangs behind her ears.

"Welcome! How many people are in your party?" she asked with a shining smile.

"Oh, hey Kozue," Saku greeted. "A table for two please. Koyuki's gonna be coming soon."

"Right this way then. I'll bring Koyuki over when he comes," Kozue said leading the way.

It wasn't long before Kozue brought Koyuki over and left them to order while she tended to the other customers.

"Wow, I didn't know that Kozue worked here," Saku said in a low voice to Koyuki.

"She works late nights at a convenience store too," Koyuki replied.

"What?!" Saku looked at his friend in shock. "She works night shifts and still has time for school?"

Koyuki said, "Maybe she's super smart. I dunno, but she mentioned to me before that she couldn't go to school since her dad is working overseas and they have money problems or something."

"Oh! Taira, you're here too," they both turned their heads as they saw Kozue greet their bassist. "Koyuki and Saku are here, would you like to join them?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied awkwardly and she nervously led him to their table.

"Shall I give you a few more minutes?" Kozue asked the three of them.

"We're ready," Koyuki said and looked at Taira.

"I'll just have coffee," he replied and Koyuki and Saku gave their orders.

Kozue put in their orders and the three of them talked amongst themselves. "I didn't expect you guys to be here," Taira said. "Let alone that Kozue worked here."

"It surprised me too," Saku told him. "And guess what Koyuki just told me."

Taira raised an eyebrow.

"Kozue works since her father is overseas and they have money problems!" he said in a loud whisper.

Both of Taira's eyebrows went up in interest and he leaned back in his chair as he quietly observed the little waitress taking orders and busing tables back and forth.

When they finished up their meal, they paid the bill and left the best tip they could and Kozue worked the rest of her shift until 11:30 p.m. on the dot. After work was over, she was quickly paid and rushed over to the club.

Kozue went to the back and was let in. She quickly went and asked if she could have some spotlight time. Jumping in rejoice due to the good news, Kozue didn't have much time to waste as she had to prepare herself. During this moment, she thought it was the perfect time for Chiba's first lesson: to listen and watch.

Running over to a phone, Kozue pulled out Chiba's number from her wallet and hoped that he was still awake.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Moshi moshi? Chiba?" she said loudly into the phone over the loud music.

"Ko-chan? Dou ka shita?" he replied completely alert even with his heart beating fast. ("What's wrong?")

"Ima isogashii desu ka?" ("Are you busy right now?")

"Iie, betsuni." ("No, not really.")

"You should come down to this club I'm at. It'll be your first learning experience in English," she said. Chiba asked where she was and Kozue quickly gave him directions and told him to go through the back door. Once they hung up, Kozue told the bodyguards to let in a guy with an afro.

Kozue watched from the side of the stage as another artist basked in the limelight. The adrenaline rushed through her veins and it didn't take long before she was the one the light was shining on. With her DJ friend behind the equipment, she left him with her beloved iPod with the playlist ready and in order.

As the beat started playing and the DJ started scratching, Chiba ran into the building through the back and quickly took his place in the crowd.

"What's with rap these days,  
Shootin' down thugs and no home for the brave  
A little kid could write a wrap, Bang Bang  
is all it had to say but dang,  
that'd be inspirational wouldn't it  
Bang, bang I'll shoot ya dead  
but no time for that now shake them dreads

In the middle of the night  
The kids would be crying  
The adult telling them to fight the monsters  
in the closet, under the bed, in their head  
Lookin for the bright morning there is no other way  
Keep your head up, escape with the music, and wait for a better day

I wish there was, would be, could be a time  
when society listened to the cries of the voiceless  
living a life of no return, misunderstood, and seemingly endless thoughts never to be heard  
the public turning the other cheek, an eye blind  
no ears to hear

Let the music flow like a clear blue river  
to the big blue ocean, affect the masses  
with a beat so infectious it'd create a huge epidemic  
something intense as the fire inside me  
and try to get it outside  
to you and all your friends don't ignore it  
See what I speak through a microscope  
There isn't much to it  
Just a bunch of intricate lines and simple pen strokes  
Just words put together that have a lot of meaning  
to me, that is the feeling to be  
nothing more, nothing less than what it should be

Carry on, it's the same, nothing changes, nothing stays the same  
In any case it's all relative  
to life and this cycle of the world  
Why break this perfectly imperfect feeling  
there's nothing better than having  
nothing but giving everything  
for something that you believe in  
there's no harm in it

Keep battling through the storm  
until it's over, I'm not done  
yet with this life I've put some use to  
It's not useless to show you how I feel  
Keep an eye out  
You might not get it but this is a song for you, you, you  
and you, the person I cherish the most  
See through my eyes the things I care for  
the dreams I wish to be realized  
the impossible fantasies I still have faith in  
Keep dreaming, this will all be gone by tomorrow  
there will be nothing but this  
through the freezing cold winter  
and the blazing hot sun  
this song will out stand the harshest weather"

Chiba stood there in awe of the girl on stage. The feeling was astonishment. He couldn't understand it most of it, but the feelings were delivered so well. It had that solid feel to it. There was something else too. With Kozue spilling her soul to the audience, Chiba was worried that he had fallen for her.

The two of them met backstage, Kozue was sweating and obviously very tired. "Dou desu ka?" she asked. Her eyes were shining very brightly. ("How was it?")

"S-sugoi," he replied. ("A-amazing.")

They walked out together and she asked, "So what did you learn?"

"A lot of things," he replied vaguely as they walked from streetlight to streetlight. "So what were you saying in your rap?"

"A lot of things," Kozue mocked. "I'll tell you later."

They stopped by the convenience store that Kozue worked at and bought some drinks. "Hey Kozue," Hideaki said with a suspicious smile as he rang up their drinks.

"Yo," she replied right before she and Chiba started fighting over who would pay for the drinks.

Hideaki laughed to himself and said, "You know, I'll pay for it. You two just enjoy your night."

Not understanding what he was hinting at, Kozue gratefully accepted it and they left the store. "Tell me how it goes!" he loudly whispered just before the automatic doors closed behind them. He knew Kozue heard him because she looked back at him with a strange look.

"It's probably dangerous for a high school student to be out this late. The teachers could be patrolling," she said.

He looked at her in surprise she would know common high school stuff like that. Then again, it was sort of like that in middle school too.

"Well it's definitely more dangerous for a young lady to be walking home alone," Chiba slightly mocked. "At least tomorrow is Sunday though."

"Un."

"Are you working tomorrow?"

"Sundays I work at a cosplay café around noon and then I have the convenience store late at night."

"You wanna hang out?"

"We'll see. Usually I try and help my brothers with their homework on Sundays, so I don't really know if that'll work out."

"I'll come over and help your brothers with homework and we can hang out at the same time."

"Can you really help them out with homework?" she asked skeptically. "I mean your English is a little abysmal."

"I may not look it but I'm the class president, missy!" Chiba boasted and Kozue couldn't hold back a loud guffaw, which she immediately had to cover.

"Yeah, you definitely don't look like class president," Kozue agreed with a small chuckle just as they approached her apartment complex. They stood around outside and just talked even it was so late at night.

"But really, tomorrow I can help your brothers with their homework," he said honestly.

"Hai, hai. Wakatta. Ja, ashita watashi no manshon ni kimasu," she said. ("Ok, ok. I understand. Then, tomorrow come to my apartment.")

"What time?"

"Uh, come around four and you can have some dinner," she said.

"Alright I'll stop by around four then," he said. "Well I better get going. I'll see ya tomorrow, Ko-chan."

"Right. See ya," she replied and they both parted ways. Kozue entered her apartment quietly, careful not to wake her family up and slept separately form them, under the table with a couple sweaters as a pillow, and wearing the clothes she had just worn out to sleep.

Kozue woke up later on; her internal clock was well adjusted to the odd hours that she worked. It was amazing her circadian rhythm was programmed to the hours she had to sleep and had to work. Her family was still asleep, so she carefully snuck out from under the table and quickly took a bath and changed into some new clothes. She made breakfast while keeping an eye on the clock. Just because she woke up early, doesn't mean she wasn't tired.

After breakfast was finished, she woke up her family and they all ate together, but once she finished she straightaway went right back to sleep for about two hours. Oversleeping was not acceptable since the trip to the cosplay café she worked at was about half an hour's walk away. It also took her some time to dress in the uniform maid's outfit and neko mimi. (cat ears) Although she's been working there every Sunday for about two months already, she was still not used to wearing heels.

Meanwhile, Chiba was dragging Taira and Ryusuke along looking for the cosplay café that Kozue worked at.

"I don't see the reason why we're going," Taira said as Chiba was carefully inspecting every single shop and restaurant. "C'mon Ryusuke, keep up."

"Kozue's not gonna be too happy when I show up and see her working in a cosplay café," Ryusuke sulked, walking slowly behind his two bandmates.

"Aw, quit yer bitchin' man," Chiba replied bitterly before returning to his committed search for the girl he had fallen head over heels for.

It took them a couple hours to find the place and when they did, only Chiba was the one relieved. Taira thought it was really tiring going through the trouble of finding this place. Ryusuke was just dreading the entire trip. Not only did Kozue have this quiet, yet intense hate for Ryusuke that no one seemed to really notice, but also cosplay cafés are one of the top places that he never wanted to visit in his lifetime.

When Chiba had found the place, he had simply ducked his head into the place and quickly scanned it. As soon as he spotted her, his heart did a complete flip and skipped over to the guys and pulled them in with a mask over his happy face.

Kozue noticed them out of the corner of her eye and she did a double take. Her heart leaped and twirled when she saw Taira. She waved and came over. "Hey you guys. What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to keep herself from blushing.

Chiba clapped a hand on Taira's shoulder and said, "Buddy here said that he wanted to come to an awesome café. Who knew that you'd be working here?"

There was a small smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth as she guided them to a table. Hideaki was going to hear a lot of interesting news from her later.

It was extremely embarrassing to have to say "Kyun kyun mahou!" to her friends in a maid's outfit, in high heels, and neko mimi.

They waited there until her shift ended and she changed back into regular clothes. "You guys surprised me. I didn't expect to see you two days in a row, Taira," she said.

Chiba shot Taira a glare and he played along and said, "I didn't know I'd be visiting you at work two days in a row either."

Ryusuke was so relieved that Kozue had barely acknowledged his existence while he was with them. He viciously eyed the music stores as they walked past by them. Taira, Chiba, and Kozue ended up back at her apartment. Ryusuke seemed to have gotten lost on their way to Kozue's place.

She invited them both in and they all sat around with her brothers and started playing video games. While her brothers and the guys played games, Kozue started preparing dinner.

"So what are you going to be when you get older?" Chiba asked Takeshi and Satoshi.

"A firefighter," Takeshi replied without thinking.

"A computer engineer," Satoshi replied after his brother.

"That must be… fun," Chiba replied unsurely to the very different responses.

"What about you guys?" Takeshi asked.

"The two of us are trying to make it big in our band," Chiba bragged.

"Ehh?! Uso!" Takeshi exclaimed as his head immediately shot in Chiba's direction. "Kakkoii ne, Sato?" ("No way! That's cool, isn't it Sato?")

"Maa…" his twin replied, more interesting in beating the challengers. ("Sure…")

After Kozue and her mom prepared dinner, they all sat down and had a nice entertaining dinner. Kozue's mother was shining. She was so glad that Kozue had made friends and male ones at that. As Kozue's mother did the dishes, everyone did their best to help Satoshi and Takeshi with their homework.

Chiba helped out Takeshi, which was a good pairing. Although Kozue did find it suspicious when they'd snicker lowly. Taira and Kozue were attempting to help Satoshi, who really didn't need much help and would occasionally snap, but apologize afterwards; even Taira got a little angry.

At some point, Taira got up and said with a slightly agitated tone, "It's about time I get going. I'll see ya around."

"Thanks for coming over," Kozue said slightly apologetic as she walked him out the door.

By the time she walked back to the guys, Chiba was teaching them how to fold a paper plane with their homework; but then Satoshi made his own paper plane that flew straight into Chiba's afro. She was afraid to ask, but she had to. "Nani… Nani o shiten no?" ("What… What are you doing?")

"Aa-! Yabai!" Chiba said while he and her brothers quickly took the paper planes and unfolded them. "Nan demo nai…" ("This is bad!" "Nothing…")

Kozue noticed the smile on Satoshi's face. It nearly made her cry. Satoshi was a quiet boy and never really voiced his opinions, unlike his brother. He was clever and when he and Takeshi were younger, he was known to fool his brother with lies like "You know, Ultraman was here when you were out playing with your friends." Of course Takeshi would believe something like that at their young age because he believed "Who would lie about Ultraman?"

Satoshi only sported mischievous and bitter smiles if there was ever a smile on his face. "How's homework going?"

"We finished," Takeshi said happily.

Kozue looked over to Satoshi, who nodded. Looking at her watch, she noticed the time and realized it was really early. "Wow. We finished an hour before the time that we usually finish!" she said.

"Mochiron! Tensai desu yo!" Takeshi stood up and posed.

Satoshi pulled his brother back down into a sitting position and said in an embarrassed manner, "You shouldn't say such bold things. You may one day be hit by a car."

Then, Kozue's mother came over and offered some juice. "You all studied hard, didn't you?" she said as everyone took a glass. "It's such a shame your other friend couldn't stay long."

"Taira has work right now, I think," Chiba said.

"Really? What does he do?" Kozue asked.

Chiba sipped his drink and then said, "He's a traffic officer."

She nodded understandingly, trying not to act happy about hearing something about Taira. Kozue's mom sighed and said, "You kids are trying to grow up too fast. You really need to know how to enjoy your youth."

Chiba noticed how Kozue's usually sparkly-happy eyes were now downcast. Suddenly he got up and said happily, "Hey, Ko-chan. Wanna go for a walk?"

"Eh?" she looked at her brothers to see if she missed something, but they were already hooked on playing video games. "Uh, sure. I'll be out for a while then. I'm going to go and help Chiba with his English."

"Hai. Ki o tsukete, ne?"

"Hai!" Chiba and Kozue both put on their shoes and walked outside. It was pretty dark out already.

They walked a few blocks in silence with the exception of their footsteps and the occasional passing car. Kozue was enjoying the walk while Chiba on the other hand thought it was very tense. There was something he wanted to ask her but it might've been really rude of him.

"Anou, daijoubu?" ("Um… are you okay?")

Chiba snapped out of his mental battle with himself and looked around. "Ha?"

They had stopped walking and Kozue was standing right in front of him. "You had a really ugly face just now."

She was staring at him with worry in her eyes. "Ah, daijoubu desu… Nanka…" his voice trailed off. ("Ah, I'm fine… Well…")

"Nani?" ("What?")

"Seeing you with a sad face," Chiba said quietly with his eyes elsewhere, "really hurts."

She let out a small painful chuckle. "You saw it?" she asked, not really offended by it.

"Maa… It's okay if you don't wanna talk about it." Chiba suddenly changed their course by crossing a street.

"I don't mind. It's not like it's some kind of secret anyway," she said as she followed him. "You already know that I work part-time jobs to support my family. My mom doesn't work so everyday she has to bear seeing me completely exhausted from work. She'd prefer me in high school, slacking off with friends."

"…And your dad?"

Seeing her immediately look at the ground and have her hair cover her face was not something that Chiba could miss. "He works overseas in America. At the beginning of the month he sends us some money, but that would only last about a week, so we end up saving it while I work."

They arrived at a small park and as Kozue went for the swings, Chiba knew he could see a hurt child, but he didn't know what happened. The punk rapper sat next to her and the swings made irritating sounds as they swung back and forth.

"You don't have to tell me-"

"It's my fault that he's overseas."

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please don't steal my lyrics.

I wrote those lyrics months ago just to write some lyrics. At that time I hadn't even thought of writing a BECK story. They're the first actual lyrics that were intended to be a rap; everything before that was supposed to be rock, but ended up as a rap in my head. I decided to let Kozue use them as her "first rap" in the story since I thought it'd be put to good use that way. Even now I don't understand why all the lyrics I write end up as raps when I listen to more rock.

By the way, if you find the reference to another song in the lyrics, then... "hahahaha, what grammar!" Yeah.

Please rate and review! I really appreciate it!


	4. Convenience, coffee, crepes, OH MY

It's been a while since I last updated this story. There was a severe writer's block and some laziness. This has been written for quite some time now, but it took **Amaris Solbes de la Vega **to favorite this story and put an alert on it, to get me to put up another chapter.

**Disclaimer: **You know BECK. I own none of them.

* * *

They arrived at a small park and as Kozue went for the swings, Chiba knew he could see a hurt child, but he didn't know what happened. The punk rapper sat next to her and the swings made irritating sounds as they swung back and forth.

"You don't have to tell me-"

"It's my fault that he's overseas."

"Eh?"

"I wasn't always like this," she said. "I never used to be this optimistic and happy, but that doesn't mean I was a very negative person either. I used to be… sort of annoying, always saying things loudly and always wanting attention from my parents. Even my little brothers, who I love dearly, I used to find troublesome. When I was in my second year of middle school, my friends got me into rap and hip-hop. We'd often hang out after school at a park or something and try rapping and beat boxing. At home I'd be rapping about whatever I was doing, only concerned with music and not helping around the house. My dad wasn't very approving of something so inappropriate so he slowly and increasingly stayed at work late and went drinking with his co-workers. Then, there was an overseas opportunity at his company and my dad immediately volunteered to go. With my dad suddenly leaving, I had to stop my education after middle school and start working. We had to sell our house and thankfully we found our current apartment. When our dad left, everyone was… in a lot of pain. I was an extremely depressed person, often crying to our mom and apologizing for what had happened. For a while I was unable to look my family in the eye because I thought that they didn't deserve the suffering that I had brought them."

Kozue gave a big smile to her friend. "Then one day, Satoshi and Takeshi were bullied by their classmates and there was a huge fight. Our mom was spending the day with our grandfather in Nara, so she couldn't make it so I went in her place. Their teacher told me that they were hurting the other kids because they had made fun of me for not being in high school, but then the two of them told them off. Bikkurishita! Takeshi was known for saying spiteful things, but Satoshi was barely known to even talk to other kids. You know what they said?" ("I was so surprised!")

"Nani?" ("What?")

" 'Kono yarou! Ane ga… boku-tachi no tame ni shigoto o shimasu!! Ane ga ganbaru yo!!' is what I was told," Kozue said while a smile. "Cho ureshikatta." (" 'You jerk! Our older sister… works for our sake! Our older sister is doing her best!!' " "I was really happy.")

"After that, I dedicated myself to smile and do my best to work and spend time with my family," she concluded.

Chiba nodded as he tried to settle in all the new information. Once he seemed to understand the gist of it, he asked, "Then what about relationships?"

Kozue nearly fell off her swing when asked the question. "Iya, anou… I don't have any friends besides you guys." ("No, uhh…")

It was hard to tell whether or not Kozue was being serious.

_She's… joking right?_ Chiba thought. _She couldn't have possibly actually thought that when I said "relationship" that I meant relationship with people did she? But, it works that way too right? If she doesn't have any friends then it's highly unlikely that she had a boyfriend before… right? I mean, WHAT AN HONEST ANSWER! There's no way she'd be going on dates with creepy perverted boys, right? I mean… _KOZUE!! _Someone like Kozue…_ _There's no way…_

As Chiba's mind drifted off into an abyss of bad assumptions, Kozue moved on from the swings to the jungle gym.

"Demo ne," she said right before she slid down, "I haven't been able to date ever since middle school ended." ("But you know,")

"Eh?" Chiba snapped out of his confusing thoughts. _So she _has_ dated before!_

Chiba and Kozue walked over to a picnic table and sat on top of it. "So you dated in middle school?"

She nodded with a small smile. "I wasn't very girly, but I was still pretty popular. During that time I only had one boyfriend. He was one of my friends and asked me out. We dated for only the last year of middle school. After middle school, I had no time for friends or relationships."

"But now?"

"Even now I barely have time for friends. Since I was able to make friends, I'm doing my best to keep them." Suddenly the overworked teenager let out a small laugh and said, "Sorry about constantly talking about things that are far too personal. Anyway, thanks for helping my brothers with their homework."

"Iya, iya, iya," Chiba said. "It's nothing. Honestly. I have a brother too so I can understand what it's like and all." ("No, no, no".)

The two of them took a trip to the library and Kozue began to help Chiba with writing English lyrics.

"You need particles in your sentences. 'The' is like 'wa' so you have to put that before the topic of the sentence," she whispered as they wrote with a small pencil on a sheet of paper they borrowed from someone nearby. "When you understand the topic, you can replace the topic with the word 'it'. Got it?"

After an announcement was made that the library was closing, Chiba walked Kozue home.

"So I'll see ya sometime Ko-chan," he said in front of the apartment complex.

Kozue gave a small tomboyish nod and said, "Yeah, see ya."

Before any more conversation could be initiated, Kozue ran up the stairs and went to her apartment leaving Chiba feeling like half of his soul was sucked out. He reassured himself that there was no need to rush anything with Kozue though.

Even though she was supposed to be resting and taking a nap while she had the time, Kozue had such a hard time sleeping since her day was so busy and she was too excited to wait and tell Hideaki these things.

Soon enough, the hours passed and Kozue took a quick shower and changed before practically sprinting off to the convenience store. It usually took her five minutes strolling to the convenience store; in a sprint, it took her 1 minute and 6 seconds. By the time she arrived through the automatic doors, she was panting.

"Please tell me that no scum are chasing you right now," Hideaki said hoping with all his might that there was no need to call the cops.

She waved her hand animatedly. "No… no it's nothing like that," she said. "Lots of things happened yesterday!"

Hideaki went around the counter and took two energy drinks from the fridge and handed Kozue one. He knew they would both need them. Once she was finished sharing, he let out a low whistle. "Sounds very eventful for you, Kozue. Got two guys to come back to your place, ni~ce."

She blushed and hit him. "Don't make it sound so wrong!"

"But isn't it oh so wrong?" he mocked only to have her hit him again. "So which one do you like?"

"Huh?"

Hideaki sipped the last of his energy drink and then tossed it into the garbage can. "Afro or blondie?" he asked using the words Kozue used to describe her friends.

"The blonde one of course!" she defended.

"Afro sounds cooler to me~" he said in a singsong voice making Kozue push him into the open cash register.

Working the night shift at a convenience store didn't require much energy. The only customers would be those people that are up late working on a paper or cramming for exam. As usual, there weren't any customers that night, but unfortunately Kozue was already starting to crash from the energy drink.

Hideaki saw his usually energetic coworker buddy in a dazed state. 'Maybe giving a fifteen-year-old an energy drink was a bad idea,' he thought to himself.

"Hey, why don't you take a quick rest in the back. You don't look too good," Hideaki offered with an outstretched hand.

She looked up at him with the biggest bags under her eyes. He could've sworn they weren't there a minute ago. "But I have to work…"

He helped her up against her will and led her to the back. "We've been working together for a very long time now. I know your schedule and I know that Mondays are the toughest on you since you need a lot of energy to do them and you need plenty of sleep. You go rest a while and I'll wake you up half an hour before your shift ends, okay?"

"Oh-kay," she replied with a yawn and crawled onto the workers' bench. Before she completely fell asleep, Kozue reached into her locker and grabbed her headphones and listened to some music as she slept.

"…_Ashita kyou yori egao ni nareru_

_kimi ga iru dake de sou omoeru kara_

_nanjuu-nen nanbyaku-nen nansen-nen toki wo koe yo_

_kimi wo aishiteru…_"

"…zue… Kozue. Oi, okite!" ["Hey, wake up!"]

Kozue woke up with a start and nearly bumped heads with Hideaki when sitting up. "Geeze, what happened?" she asked.

"Your shift is gonna end in half an hour," Hideaki said with a chuckle as he exited the back room.

Kozue regained her posture and tried waking up. Once her leg woke up too, she made her way to the storefront and stood behind the counter with Hideaki. From the time she woke up to the time her shift ended, Kozue fully woke up and returned to her usual Kozue cheeriness.

It was a chilly walk back home as the sun was only beginning to rise. Kozue had to prepare lunch for her brothers and breakfast for her family. Her mother woke up and helped her out. They spoke in quiet voices so as to not wake Takeshi or Satoshi.

"I'm sorry about always wanting you to just go out and just be a teenager," her mother apologized. "It's just you always look so tired when return from work."

"It's alright because I'm still young," Kozue replied.

Her mother let out a content sigh and gave her daughter a small hug. "At least I know you'll be a good wife someday."

Once all the food was ready and the table was set, Takeshi and Satoshi were woken up and all of them shared a wonderful breakfast before Kozue left for work at a coffee shop.

She was working very diligently when she noticed some familiar looking customers. "Hi. Can I take your order?" Kozue asked while trying to figure out who the people ordering were.

"Uhm…" the girl spoke while browsing the menu with her friend. "I'd like to have… Oh my gosh! Kozue!!"

The girl next to her then let out a shriek of some sort. "Kozue! I haven't seen you in forever! You work here now?!"

The stunned girl couldn't really focus on anything at this point. Her best friends from elementary school, Ayu and Yuki, were cutting class and buying something to drink at the coffee shop that Kozue worked at. When her co-worker nudged her, she snapped back to reality, and said, "I'm getting off in half an hour. Do you think you can wait until then?"

The two of them shrugged and said, "Of course! We've got nothing better to do."

"So can I take your order?"

"I'll have…"

Once Kozue's shift ended, she and her old school buddies took a walk around to catch up.

"So how are you Kozue?" Ayu asked. "We haven't seen you in forever since we split up after elementary school. What school do you go to?"

She looked down slightly ashamed and embarrassed at the same time. "I actually don't go to high school. I have to work part-time jobs to support my family."

Ayu and Yuki looked at her in shock. "Oh my gosh. Did you run away with some boy in middle school and you know… get knocked up?" Yuki asked.

Kozue furrowed her eyebrows, as she didn't quite understand at first. "What? 'Knocked up'? … 'Knocked up'?! No! No. I'm talking about my mom and my little brothers."

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good. You know, Yuki's friend from middle school got knocked up when we were in high school and she had to run off with her boyfriend, but then he left her and it was just a big mess to fix," Ayu said.

"You know, she told me that she actually has another baby on the way again!" Yuki gossiped.

Feeling she was sort of a third wheel, Kozue stopped walking and spoke up. "I've… actually got to get going right about now," she said. "I'm really glad I got to see you guys again though."

The two girls gave a genuine smile that Kozue tried her best to return. "Totally!" Ayu said.

"We'll try and stop by again," Yuki said.

"Then I'll see ya around," Kozue parted before turning around to go home.

As they watched her departing figure turn a corner, Ayu said to Yuki, "Kozue really grew up."

"To think it was only a couple years ago that we were elementary school kids, when now she already looks so exhausted like my dad."

"I wonder what other part-time jobs she's working."

After returning home to take a nap and eat lunch, Kozue went to her job at a crepe shop, where it was really busy since her shift had to attend to the high school and sometimes middle school students that came around after school. As she got ready for work, Kozue thought it was ironic that even though she worked at a crepe shop, where teens are more obvious to flock to, she runs into people that recognize her at her work in a coffee shop, where she worked only when adults are the majority of customers.

"Oh. Hey Kozue," Chiba said a little stunned.

"Hey!" she said really ecstatic. "What can I get you? It'll be free."

"What? No. I have to pay for it myself," Chiba said.

"Oh, no, no," she insisted. "I get a free crepe for every hour I work. I got tired after the first one. So what can I get you?"

"Whatever you recommend, you can choose."

"Alright," she said before making him her favorite kind of crepe, one with strawberries, nutella, and vanilla ice cream. "Here you go."

Chiba was handed his crepe and then he asked, "Do you think you have some time after work?"

"Well, I have to take the train to get to my other job."

"Is it cool if I can join you?"

She smiled and said, "Yeah! Having some company would be great."

Chiba smiled back and asked, "So what time do you get off?"

"I get off at five," she said.

"Okay. I'll come back to pick you up then."

Just a few hours later, Chiba came back and they both had a brisk walk to the train station.

"I'm surprised that you're willing to join me to work," she said when they found seats.

Chiba was uneasy at the moment. Just before he saw the girl he was head over heels for, he ran into his ex-girlfriend. They dated in middle school for a while and were quite the couple. The reason they split up was because their relationship was going very well for a long while when they were just young teens, which meant that the emotions and feelings hadn't quite fizzled out. Chiba realized that the past was the past and the only way he'd officially get over his previous relationship would be to start putting his current feelings for Kozue into action. Very slow and progressive action.

* * *

Care to guess what song that was?


	5. Smoked Like Ham

Wow I skipped an entire month and a day. I've had this written for a while not knowing it was finished since I got a MacBook and I don't think it tells you how many pages you've written. Well here it is. Bon Apetit.

**Disclaimer: **Right now, the only piece of Beck I own is a Beck wristband.

**Warning:** The following is rated T for smoking cigarettes.

**Note: **The song in the last chapter was "Kiseki" by GReeeeN.

* * *

"So where exactly do you work?" Chiba asked.

"I work at a shoe store," Kozue said as she zipped up her jacket. "It's a pretty smelly job sometimes, but it gets the food on the table."

Chiba shifted in his seat and asked, "Exactly how many jobs do you work?"

"Well, I work at a cosplay café, a convenience store, a coffee shop, a crepe shop, a shoe store, a restaurant, and a pastry store, that is currently going under some repairs. So that's seven part-time jobs."

"Don't you get tired of doing all those jobs?"

The train came to a stop and more people got on and sat next to them. Kozue shrugged and with a small smile she replied, "Well that's the price to pay isn't it? It keeps my family alive and happy so it's worth it."

Chiba could tell that she was unhappy on the inside, behind her optimistic and strong mask. He was personally sick of her lying to herself. He sighed and blurted out, "Why don't you just admit it that you're tired after work?"

"Saying something like that would mean I'm tired of taking care of my family," she said. "I'm not a selfish person."

"Saying that you're tired after work is completely fine. Everyone that goes out and does something gets tired. It's normal."

The two of them got off the train and began to speed walk towards Kozue's next job. "Don't lie to yourself."

She stopped dead in her tracks and Chiba turned around to face her. She was stone-faced and jaw-locked.

"I will take a day off on a job that pays very well to explain to you the reason I won't say something as idiotic as that," Kozue nearly barked before fishing some change out of her pockets and walked over to a nearby payphone.

A minute later she walked off in one direction and yelled over to Chiba, "Come on! We're going somewhere we can talk!"

_There's no way… Did… Did Ko-chan just lose her cool? … Did Ko-chan just lose her cool because I tried to make her admit something totally… obsurd?! Damn it, Chiba! You're an idiot!_

They ended up at an outdoor mall where there were lots of food shops and picnic tables. She bought a quick smoothie before sitting down.

"I wasn't just negative and trying to grab attention. That was only in the beginning of middle school. Around the middle of second year, I began isolating myself from my family and actually hated them. Then third year, when my life was at it's peak, I couldn't care less about them and so I talked to them whenever I was around the house. You know what happened that year?" Kozue had started out talking slow, but then it became more rapid and shaky.

"What happened?" Chiba couldn't look at her.

"My boyfriend got me hooked on cigarettes."

"How did he get-"

"I didn't say he went to middle school. Did I?" she replied glumly. "I was a well-known chain-smoker, who only smoked in secret."

"What made you quit?"

"Hah! I said I was a chain-smoker who only smoked in secret, didn't I?" she replied with a smirk. Looking at his face, Kozue could see his eyes were full of shock and worry and his mouth was wide open. "Ha-ha. I'm joking about that. After he and I broke up, I tried just cutting myself off from cigarettes completely, but the withdrawal symptoms were very severe that my parents, who didn't know that I had been smoking, brought me to the hospital. I told the doctor, and he said to gradually cut down. Had to tell my parents that I was smoking because we knew they wouldn't be satisfied with "Oh, she's fine now so she can go home" as an excuse. Now I have an occasional smoke every now and then when I'm stressed."

Chiba was damn near speechless. "What made you tell me this?"

"I needed to tell someone and I've already told you so much, I feel comfortable with you," Kozue said before taking a huge sip of her smoothie. "Caring for them selflessly now is to make up for when I didn't give a damn about their lives before. I don't go and cry to daddy about how hard work is because guess what? Daddy isn't home! I haven't talked or seen my father for eight months now because I'm doing what daddy isn't. I'm keeping my family alive and well."

"Listen, you're doing a damn good job at keeping them alive," Chiba said while grabbing her hand and holding it tight in both hands. "Any time there's something you want or need to talk about, just call me."

"Thanks, Chiba." She smiled. "Even though I haven't known you very long, I'm really glad that we're friends."

The lead singer gave her a smug grin and said, "That's Tsunemi Chiba for ya!"

She let out a chuckle. Her eyes twinkled a bit and Chiba took that as "body talk" for "Thank you, you made me feel a lot better" in Chiba's mind. It only seemed to twinkle because a lady a couple yards away pulled out a compact mirror and accidentally shined the sun over Kozue's eyes for merely a split second.

They walked along the little stores among other shoppers. It wasn't hustling and bustling, but there wasn't a lot of room to walk, and with a couple of people in a narrow space, three people became a crowd.

As they made small chitchat, Chiba stole occasional glances as secret beloved. He was scared that either Kozue or someone else would catch him staring too much at her while she talk, but it gave him such a rush that a blush became increasingly visible on his cheeks.

"Hey. Are you feeling okay? Your cheeks are red."

"Huh?" Chiba was still in his half-daze.

"Do you have a fever?" she wondered aloud as they stopped in the middle of a walkway so she could compare their temperatures by placing one hand on her own forehead and another on his.

Her hand making contact with Chiba's skin was not a good idea.

"Ew, you're sweaty," Kozue joked, but still, nonetheless, wiped her hand on her pants. "You are kinda warm though."

"No, I'm fine." Boy, was he embarrassed or what. His heart was doing pirouettes once he felt her cold hand, but instead Chiba had to get his nasty sweat on her. 'Nice going, Chiba,' he thought.

They were taking the train back since it was getting pretty dark, although the mature girl would normally head back home alone past nightfall.

Due to it being about five o'clock-ish, the trains were packed with people and Kozue and Chiba had to stand next to each other; right up against the doors with some other people.

"So are you doing anything Wednesday nig-"

"Nope," Chiba immediately replied cutting her off.

"I was just thinking that maybe I'll have another gig, if I can manage to squeeze it in. Would you wanna come and watch?" she asked as a businessman snickered to someone on his other side.

"That'd be awesome," he said.

"I've got your number so I'll probably call you about the details later or tomorrow."

"Gotcha," Chiba replied smoothly. In reality, his knees were shaking and he wanted to shout out of excitement. He probably would've too if there weren't so many agitated looking businessmen with briefcases that had a hard outside and potentially dangerous corners, or leather ones stuffed with paper and books.

They got off at their stop and Chiba walked Kozue to her house. They were at the bottom and just as Kozue was about to take a step up the stairs, she fainted.

Chiba went wide-eyed and quickly rushed to her side. He turned her over and checked if she was still breathing and if she had a heartbeat. In a panic, he looked around to see if anyone was nearby, but the area was empty. The only thing he could do at the moment was to carry the passed out tomboy up to her apartment, where a worried mother met him at the door.

"Oh my goodness," Kozue's mother gasped as she let Chiba in. "Is she alright? What happened?"

Satoshi and Takeshi were both home and doing homework on the floor in front of the television when they saw Chiba come in carrying their big sister, so they quickly shoved their things out of the way and quickly prepared a futon and pillow for her.

He put her down very carefully; feet down first, then legs, then waist, then **carefully** set her back down without possibly causing her pain in her neck while she's unconscious, and then finally her head.

Her "savior," as he liked to think, wiped his forehead, so as to not possibly sweat on her.

"What happened to nee-san?" the rowdier brother asked.

Chiba scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, she was about to go up here alone after we said later, and then all of a sudden she passed out."

"Takeshi, Satoshi," their mother said with a worried tone, "go do your homework… in the bathroom."

That was one of a handful of disadvantages to living in a small apartment: not enough rooms or space to talk privately.

"So what did you do just before coming here?" Her voice was firm and she her lips were curled up in a smile, her eyes were shimmering something suspicious, and her eyebrows were raised expectantly.

Chiba couldn't quite read the expression despite being class president. He chose his words carefully, "We were at the mall?"

Kozue's mom chuckled mischievously and Chiba cringed a little, when he caught onto what she was thinking. 'Mothers' he though as he mentally rolled his eyes.

"Today and even yesterday, she told me some things," he said while looking at her tired face with clear bags under her eyes. "She told me about her life in middle school."

"But how- She's usually still at work at this hour."

"I kind of pestered her about something and she got agitated and took of from work to explain."

Her mom sighed and with a lopsided smile, she said, "We're gonna be a little tight on money, but she deserves a rest after being overwhelmed like that."

"I swear I didn't do anything to her, Annen-san," Chiba said assuredly to Kozue's mother as Kozue went unnoticed as she quietly woke up.

"Oho! Hoh! Hoh!" Kozue's mother laughed obnoxiously. "You can call me Kyoko-chan!"

Kozue's eye gave a small twitch as her mother kept laughing absurdly. The weak teen cleared her throat and all attention was redirected.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay!" her mother squealed before giving her a hug.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kozue replied, "Kyoko-chan."

Her mother faked embarrassment and said, "I'm just a young gal with babies. What's a girl to do?"

Kozue tried to sit up, but ended up needing the aid of Chiba while her mother kept rambling.

"But now my baby girl might having her own ba-"

Kozue quickly interrupted. "That's enough outta you, kaa-san!" she said loudly to drone out the echoing of that last unfinished sound. "Why don't you go and get some soda please?"

"Tea would be much better for the b-"

"SODA~" Kozue sang loudly over her mother, who she knew was only joking.

Chiba broke out in laughter even though the kitchen and their living room/dining room/bedroom was one tiny room. While Chiba literally laughed out loud and her mother smiled to herself as she prepared refreshments, Kozue noticed something was odd in their humble little abode.

"Where are Satoshi and Takeshi?"

There was a sudden banging coming from within the bathroom. Takeshi squeezed out holding his nose, looking like he was up to no good as he pressed his weight against the bathroom door. The banging became quieter.

"What did you do?" Kozue asked suspiciously. On the other side of the door, all of them distinctly heard the door being scratched. Takeshi let out an evil chuckle.

Kyoko caught on. "Did you 'let one rip' in there?!" she asked worriedly. Takeshi nodded with his nose still covered. "Let your brother out before we sell one of your video games."

The older twin's naughty expression turned upside down into horror. His hand covering his nose dropped to his side as if limp and almost robotically opened the door for his brother.

They waited for sign of the younger twin. Once they saw him crawl out, all of them realized something else had crawled out as well. They all covered their noses and rushed to open the windows as they wheezed out potentially dangerous gases.

"Sorry about that!" Kozue coughed out an apology to her guest.

Chiba nearly coughed up his lungs as they stuck their heads out of the window. "Don't worry about it! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!" He defended her brother.

Wednesday night, Kozue had a gig planned where she would be rapping and she invited all of Beck to come and watch.

Even though planning the gig itself was pushing last-minute, she was a frequent entertainer at the venue so she had connections.

Kozue was doing a quick sound check and set her iPod up to the turntable equipment. She had quickly configured a new beat in her head and had to set it quickly on her iPod. If Kozue didn't have that iPod, she didn't know what she would do. It took her three whole days working all kinds of quick jobs nonstop to afford one with a lot of memory on it. She lost about ten pounds when she had enough money.

Kozue grabbed the mic from the mic stand and pressed play on her iPod. From there, the limelight was all on her and the music kept spinning.

The next day, Kozue was exhausted as she left the convenience store. She had finally finished her shift after a long night. Luckily all she had to do now was make breakfast and then she'd be able to sleep.

"Kozue, I know I tell you to go and make more friends, but…" her mother hesitated as they all ate breakfast together.

"What is it?" Kozue asked while her younger twin brothers looked at their mother with large curious eyes.

"Well it's the bills…" her voice trailed off.

The exhausted daughter let out a sigh of relief. "I thought you were going to say something else. Don't worry. I'll take care of it. But maybe you could pick Satoshi and Takeshi up today and buy dinner? I'll go job hunting."

"Of course!" her mother smiled. Despite the fact that her daughter was going job hunting, she couldn't help but assume that someone was going to accompany her.

On her job hunting quest, Kozue couldn't help but stop by the pastry shop that was going under construction. There seemed to be a new note on it.

'Annen-san, hopefully you passed by to read this. It seems that the piping was in worse shape than we seemed. Unfortunately, the store will be closed for another month. X( We will TOTALLY pay you last week and this week once the construction is over. XOXO Manager'

After reading the note, Kozue couldn't help but feel in a bit of a slump. She really needed to find another job and fast. Well, maybe not fast, but extremely soon.

Kozue wasn't a power hungry person, who dreamed of swimming in pools of diamonds and rubies or anything so she always settled for jobs that were easy to learn. Whenever she had a new job and they offered her a promotion, she would always turn them down and just ask to be paid for something she's really good at; which usually consisted of cleaning or stacking boxes. She didn't have the time to learn anything new or memorize a new schedule and she wouldn't be able to deal with getting used to a new routine and getting the hang of things. She still had to take care of her family and the bills still had to be paid, and that's all that was on her mind.

* * *

How was it? Did it satisfy your hunger for more? Ha-ha. Review please.


	6. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays

This took quite a while to put up. I had friend problems. But I really liked where I ended, but I felt like it should've been longer. I decided it'd be fine though so I could start the next chapter fresh. Anyway, here you go!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own BECK. If I did... well, wouldn't that be rad.

* * *

Kozue spent the entire day searching for a new job, but many of the places she visited weren't hiring. The places that were hiring required a lot of complicated thinking and awkward job details like checking the pH levels of the dishwasher water, bottled water, bathroom sink water, kitchen sink water, bathroom sink water, the toilet bowl water, and the toilet tank water. People tend to not recall what pH stands for and how to use a micropipette after not going to school for a while.

The troubled teen walked around the neighborhood wondering what to do. She could always take a couple days off work from a few of her part-time jobs to concentrate on a quick paying job like construction. There were also those jobs as test subjects for hospitals, but she'd prefer to still have hair and not have extremely hindered speech with partial cerebral damage to the frontal left hemisphere of her brain.

'There's no way we can handle an entire month without having that job at the pastry shop. Even if we cut off sweets and unnecessary things and be even more frugal that we are now, if being out even just one job continues, we're going to have to dip into Satoshi and Takeshi's savings, which is need of some more money,' she thought as she turned random corners. 'We might be able to somehow get by when our dad sends us some money, but if the shop is gonna be going under any more surprising rebuilding, then no good will come from waiting for it to reopen.'

A couple days went by and Kozue didn't have any luck in finding another job to fill the empty slot on Saturdays. It was starting to tire Kozue and her job performance suffered a bit too and it really wasn't like her to half-ass work.

She was wiping a table at the restaurant she worked at when her boss approached her. He put a hand on her shoulder and she sort of jumped. He was looking really concerned.

"Are you feeling okay, Annen-san? You don't seem as energetic as usual," he said softly.

Kozue mustered up a smiley face and said really energetically, "Yeah, I'm feeling great."

That was probably the biggest lie in the world at that moment and her boss could tell. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I'm your boss, but that doesn't mean you can't talk to me about these things. Tell you what, you can go home early. Full pay too."

The kind gesture made Kozue feel all the more guilty. "No! I'm truly fine!" she desperately tried convincing him.

"Don't worry about it. Just go home and rest. I won't hear anything more about it," he said as he brought her to the front door.

"But-! But-!"

"If you don't go home now... I'll... I'll..." her boss' eyes suddenly welled up with tears, "I'll fire you!"

He gently pushed her out the door and hurried off to see to his customers.

She stared at she door in shock. 'He wasn't SERIOUS was he?!' she panicked. In response to the threat, Kozue couldn't do anything but go home. At least until her shift at the convenience store started.

When Kozue got home, she saw her brothers and mom asleep on their futons. It looked as though her mom had tried her best to stay up for her though. Kozue smiled to herself before tucking her mother in.

Normally the enthusiastic teen would be out DJing or something since she had some free time, but she knew to prioritize her family's well being over some hobby that there was no real chance in. The depressed teen stood leaning over the kitchen sink as she drank some apple juice.

Though she didn't know it at that moment, but DJing or rapping would've probably been the best medicine for a down-in-the-dump feeling.

"I've been looking for days already," Kozue said to Hideaki while she was restocking the drinks. "I haven't been able to find a quick replacement job."

Hideaki cleaned around the register and said, "Maybe that's the problem then. Maybe you should just find a job to replace the pastry shop, permanently."

"I can't just do that now though. Not while the shop is under construction," she replied. "I get good pay there and we're like a family there."

He shrugged and said, "We're like family too, but sometimes you've gotta move outta the house sometime."

"Yeah, I guess so..." her voice trailed off as the _ding-dong _of the store's automatic doors went off.

"Hey, aren't you Kozue's friend?" Hideaki asked the customer.

Kozue turned around at the sound of her name and saw Koyuki and... _ba-bump ba-bump... _Taira.

She picked up the empty box next to her and carried it as she walked over to them. "Hey guys," she tried to talk cooly, "what are you doing here?"

"Well we sorta finished band practice right now and we decided to drop you a visit," Koyuki explained.

"Sorta?"

"Chiba bailed half-way because he got angry," Taira said as he paid for a candy bar.

"Why? What got him angry?" Kozue was certainly puzzled.

'Chiba angry? He's such a nice and goofy guy though...'

Taira rolled his eyes and said, "It's kind of a long story, but basically all of us, except Chiba, had this dream with famous rockers, like Freddie Mercury, and he's totally bummed about it."

There was an embarrassed look on Koyuki's face. Kozue blinked and said without much thought, "I wish I had a dream with Freddie Mercury in it."

". . .Are you gonna be bummed out too now?" Taira asked with slight surprise in his voice. There was a small awkward pause.

Kozue really DID want a Freddie Mercury dream now.

"So we were kinda wondering..." Koyuki cut in,"if you could talk to Chiba and I dunno try to convince him that it's not a big deal."

Kozue put the empty box behind the counter and said, "I wish I could but I've been really busy lately since I need to find another part-time job."

"You need another part-time job?" Taira perked up.

"Yeah, why?" Kozue was a little surprised at his sudden positive attitude.

The blonde teen scratched his head and said, "Well one of my co-workers kinda got injured last week and we needed him to be replaced, but there aren't that many people willing to be a traffic officer-"

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"I'll do it," she repeated.

Taira looked pleased and slightly uncomfortable at the same time. "Wow, that's great," he said uncertainly. "What days can you schedule in some work?"

"Friday afternoons, Saturdays at noon, and Sundays night."

The three males blinked in surprise. ". . ."

Hideaki was the first to speak. "That was... very specific."

"Well I mean I have to keep my options open, even though I have to sacrifice picking up my brothers from school, buying groceries with them, and helping them out with homework."

Her college student friend gave her a dry look and said, "Geeze, I know I've told you this before, but if you're so desperate for money, maybe you should just be a hostess. Someone genuine like you could probably one of the highest paid."

She started pushing and hitting him lightly. "Don't say that!!"

The idea was stuck in Koyuki and Taira's mind though. Taira was also convinced she'd be drowning in a pool of cash if she dressed in her cosplay cafe uniform. Old geezers pay lots of dough for that among other things.

"Anyway, I'll talk to my supervisor about it," Taira continued while still trying to shake the idea of Kozue in that maid's uniform with the neko mimi. He wasn't appreciative of it then, but he could come around to the idea.

"Sounds great," Kozue said trying to mask her inner giddiness. It took all her strength to not "kyaaaaa!!" right then and there.

So she waited until they were out of sight.

"Kyaaaaa!!" she squealed. Hideaki had to shield his ears from the sound that sounded like hawks screeching before killing their prey.

"This. Is. SUPER FANTASTIC!!" Kozue danced through the aisles.

"Yeah. You said you liked blondie. Hopefully you get to work with him," the only other person in the convenience store said as he munched on a nasty power bar.

"What are you gonna do about your other friend though?"

"Huh?" She stopped in her tracks.

"Well I'm not an eavesdropper, but you guys were kinda standing right in front of the register talking. The one that's bummed out because he didn't have that dream."

"Oh yeah." That was just like Hideaki to pull the rope so Kozue would come back to Earth so that she didn't fly further into the clouds. "Yeah, I should probably check on him. I'll give him a call later when I've got a break at the crepe shop."

"So do you still like blondie more than afro?"

"Of course. Why?"

"I dunno," he said suggestively. "Seems like afro has got the hots for you from the stories that you tell me."

"Really? I don't think he does." Kozue spoke honestly. To her, it really didn't seem like Chiba thought of her as anything more than a friend. "I mean, Chiba's a nice guy though."

"Ouch," Hideaki said with a cringe.

"What did I do?!"

"That's the one thing guys, especially guys that like you, do not want to hear."

"Why not? Isn't it a great compliment."

"Trust me. It hurts. A lot."

"So what should I do?"

"I dunno. It's not my problem." He shrugged and Kozue nearly exploded a bunch of crazy and anxiety at him. "But, maybe you should just be aware and wait to see if he tells you. That's just from my perspective since to me, it only _seems _like he likes you."

The day seemed to pass by faster as Kozue's mind had been preoccupied, which was a good thing this time. She was praying that she'd get the traffic officer, so that not only would she continue to be able to make money for her family, but she'd also get to spend time with Taira. The elated teen also thought about what Hideaki said about Chiba possibly liking her.

Speaking of Chiba, it was time for her break so she decided to give him a call. She pulled out her wallet to look at his number and dialed. It took a while before someone answered the phone.

"Hello?" It was Chiba's voice, but he sounded rushed, which wasn't what Kozue was used to.

"Chiba?"

Pause. "Kozue?" It changed to surprise now. "What's up?"

"Koyuki told me about what happened- don't blame him for telling me- but I just wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing."

It really touched him that the love of his life, the angel from the highest heavens, the apple of his eye was worried about him. "Oh you heard about that? It's... no big deal." Lie. "But actually, since you called, I'm going to perform with some friends later tonight. Do you wanna see what the grasshopper has learned from the master?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, totally. Where at?"

"Don't worry about that. What time do you get off work?"

"Nine o'clock."

"I'll pick you up from your place then."

She let out another chuckle. "Alrighty then, grasshopper. I'll see you later."

"Toodle~loo!"

Chiba's heart was racing and doing triple sow cows in his rib cage. Butterflies were in his stomach fluttering away and frogs were croaking in his throat. He flopped onto his bed and tangled himself in his bed sheets.

"It practically a date~!" he said to himself.

Meanwhile, Kozue felt even better than she had earlier since Chiba wasn't sulking over what happened; or in his case, what didn't happen. Still, she looked forward to tonight and watching Chiba onstage. Kozue, couldn't even imagine the shenanigans that would transpire later that evening.

After her job at the shoe boutique, Kozue went home, where she waited for Chiba. In the meantime, she quietly mumbled along to the song she was listening to.

_"...I'm so depressed living, a quiet life now,_

_There is no one here, in which to hold hands,_

_or protect me from the cold_

_Feeling like this loneliness will tear me apart_

_I am waiting and looking for your voice_

_To get me out of the dark_

_Snowflakes fall like the tears that's running down my face_

_I wanna hold you just one more time_

_I think of you night and day_

_Wondering if you feel the same..."_

She snapped out of her singing daze when her mother placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see Chiba at the door.

"Awesome," she said and got up from the table. It didn't take her very long to slip on a pair of her only shoes. "Let's go."

At the small venue, Chiba brought Kozue in with her through the backdoor so she wouldn't have to pay, so that aspect of it was date-like. The place was already almost full of people on the lower level, but Kozue managed to somehow squeeze into the front. It was about an hour before the actual event started, but Kozue didn't mind the wait. Chiba on the other hand, was half sweating bullets of nervousness and half feeling like he needed to prove himself.

The crowd was already raging for someone to perform, so they decided to push up the acts by half an hour. Even Kozue found herself shouting for Chiba. It wasn't much longer before the event started.

Through Chiba's entire performance, she gave her full attention. Closing her eyes and paying close attention to the music, but more importantly, the lyrics.

'Yeah, that sounds pretty tight. Aha!' Kozue laughed at some of the English lyrics that she found a little hilarious. It certainly was impressive.

After the show, Kozue met up with Chiba backstage with a big smile on her face. Despite the fact that he was kinda sweaty, she still gave him a great big hug, which he took full advantage of for as long as he could until she let go of him.

They went to a small restaurant to grab something to eat; Chiba treating her to a meal of course. Another aspect that he found to be date-like.

Despite it being quite late in the night, the place still had plenty of customers chatting amongst themselves and their companions.

As they ate, Kozue suddenly had an idea. "Maybe next time we should have a gig together."

The ramen that was in Chiba's mouth, slowly slipped back out and into his bowl causing a large splatter. She couldn't hold back a small thunderous laugh before helping to clean his side of the table.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"You really mean it?" he asked in astonishment. The idea of performing onstage was like dancing at a ball; like Cinderella and Prince Charming.

"Well I mean, why not? It's not like we suck at what we do."

"No, it's not that," Chiba tried to calm himself down. "It's just I've never really done anything like that."

". . . Then what exactly did you do tonight?"

"I mean, it's different. I was their vocalist and they were the band."

"Which would be equal to me DJing while you rap."

"But you're a vocalist too."

"So is Koyuki." Pause. "Chiba, if you don't want to then I mean it's completely fi-"

The nervous afro head grabbed her hand desperately. "I want to. Trust me I want to. We'll do it. Yes."

It was useless to try and avoid smiling at how adorably silly Chiba was. On a more serious note, they began to discuss it right there at dinner in a very light-hearted manner with small laughs. The gig was scheduled for next week with no theme, besides providing their most original beats and raps.

In the meantime, Kozue had to work her hind-quarters off to at least possibly get a raise or bonus to help her out. Hopefully that job with Taira would go through.

* * *

How do ya like them apples?


	7. Okaerinasai, goshuujinsama!

Howdy! It's been such a long time! Honestly, I was almost thinking this could be one of those stories on HIATUS, but I didn't want that haunting me since this story has already developed so far in my mind. But it's 5 months from my last chapter, and this is what I've got. It's a tad shorter than other chapters probably, or maybe not, but I wanted to end it at an interesting spot. Please, enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **You know Beck's not mine. I know Becks's not mine. Therefore, Beck's not mine.

* * *

Kozue did her best to come up with some fresh beats, but it was hard while she was working and there was no music besides the elevator kind. She would mumble words to herself and rehearse them line by line as she fitted a wealthy-looking woman some pumps.

"Young miss," the lady said as she walked over to a wall of shoes. "Do you have these in my size?"

Kozue carefully hopped over the boxes and shoes that the lady had asked to get to try on.

"I can go check the back, miss."

"Oh, hold on," the lady called her back and nearly made the young teen run into a rack of laces and socks. "Can I get these too?"

Kozue came over and the lady handed her the shoe. She went to the back and brought three boxes of shoes back and it quite surprised the lady.

"Here is the first shoe you asked for," she said before opening the box and placing both shoes on her feet. She did her best to memorize some lyrics while making sure she placed the right shoe on the right foot.

The lady stood up and walked over to a mirror. "What do you think of these?"

The girl tried to not stress and calm herself down so she could do her job efficiently. "I think they're a great color, miss, but personally I am not a fan of shoes with the toe of the shoe in that style."

The store owner seemed to be passing by and quickly scolded Kozue. The lady got angry. "Excuse me sir, but this young miss has been helping me this entire time. I would gladly leave this store without buying so much as single sock if customer service is not a priority of yours. I have asked her to be honest about how these shoes look because I am not interested in wearing ugly shoes."

The owner and the employee looked at the woman in awe of her. The owner soon changed his tune toward Kozue and shook her hand. "You are doing a fantastic job, uh" -he glanced at her name tag- "Kozue. Good work. I'll make sure to give you a raise."

He walked away and she was left there stunned while the lady she was helping stood there triumphantly. The still developing female looked up to the fully grown one in amazement.

"So these aren't your taste, huh?" Kozue nodded. "Then show me the next one."

"Well there wasn't your size in the color you asked for, but I found your size in another color that I thought would compliment the outfit that you're wearing today."

"Brilliant," said the lady with a bright smile.

Kozue was ringing up about eight pairs of shoes, when the customer checked her watch. "Oh shoot," she said as Kozue rang up box number four. "Can you put the rest on hold?"

The exhausted cashier looked at the shoes she already rang up, but nodded. The lady handed her a credit card and she swiped it. While the customer was signing the receipt and her checkbook, Kozue put the rest of the shoes on hold.

"I'll be back to pick them up tomorrow," the lady said before taking her bag of shoes and exiting the store.

After work, Kozue ran home in excitement. She stumbled through her front door and almost fell headfirst but managed to catch herself. "Mom! Mom!" she exclaimed as she struggled to pull off her shoes without untying the laces.

"Kozue? Kozue what's the matter?" Kyoko rushed over.

"Mom! A customer at the shoe boutique got me a raise!" she put her hands on her mother's shoulders.

"Sweetie, that's wonderful! How did that happen?"

Kozue and her mom sat down while the ecstatic teen told the whole story. "And then she told me to put the other shoes on hold so she's coming back tomorrow!"

"That's wonderful!" Kyoko hugged her daughter.

"Where are Satoshi and Takeshi?"

"Takeshi is out playing baseball and Satoshi is at the arcade. They should be home any minute now." With that said, the door opened and the two twins entered.

Kozue ran over and got both of her brothers in one big bear hug, nearly choking them. She practically blew out their ear drums when she was retelling the story about work.

The next day, Kozue told Chiba the exciting news while he accompanied her to work.

"That's great, Ko-chan!" he said as the doors opened and more passengers filed into the train. "That was certainly a great opportunity, and she's even coming back today."

The girl shrugged and said, "Yeah, but if only I met more people like her. She's really a nice person."

"Maybe you will," he replied. "One life, one meeting. Right?"

"Right." She smiled and they both got off the train at her stop. "I'm really looking forward to our joint gig next week."

"Come up with some fricky-fricky-fresh beats?" Chiba asked while making the hand motions to imitating someone scratching turntables.

"Working hard on it. It's kinda hard without a computer or at least a pen and paper to write down anything. Anyway, have you and the guys done any talking yet?"

Chiba's good mood turned a bit bittersweet at the thought of the rest of Beck. "A little. I mean, I talk to Taira every couple of days about the weather and stuff."

"The weather?" she asked. "That's... something at least. It's all about baby steps."

"Well, here's your work. If you've got time, call me later. We're not gonna be separate acts. This is a collaboration!"

"Gotcha!" she shouted at him playfully as he retreated to the station, walking backwards to look at her. "At least watch where you're walking!"

Kozue was waiting expectantly at her shift for the kind lady from yesterday. She was full of so much excitement that she could hardly bear it. It made the all the concentration on lyrics and beats pushed to the furthest part of her mind. Her current distraction made her on edge and caused her to be a little snippy with customers seeking out her help. So much so that she almost snapped at one like one of those tiny but vicious dogs that live in bags carried by their owners.

It was just about time to close up the boutique, but Kozue kept on her toes in case the lady from yesterday just happened to return. Timing did not seem to be on Kozue's side as she and her co-workers locked up the store. Not a wealthy lady in site on the walk to the station.

Through the dark night on the train ride home, Kozue had tried to get her mind off the lady from the previous day and how much of a disappointment it was that she didn't show up. The young teen looked out the window and looked at all the blurring lights coming from the streets and houses.

Stepping off the train and onto the platform, Kozue could feel by a rush of air that autumn was soon approaching, which meant that winter wasn't that far away. Kozue looked up at the sky. Her hopes of seeing a even just a star were in vain as the sky she slept under was polluted with light. It was just one more disappointment before going home.

It was quite late by the time Kozue got home; seeing as she was in no rush to bring bad news. As quietly as she could, she picked up her cord phone and she sat outside in the hallway with it. Sighing, the poor girl dialed the only person whose number she knew; Chiba.

This late night phone call wasn't used for things pertaining to their collaboration. Most of the conversation consisted of cheering each other up, but Chiba's lucky chance to become closer with Kozue was shortly put to an end.

"I have to go now," she whispered. "I know we'd be keep talking if I knew this five-minute chat wasn't going to make the phone bill go through the roof."

"You want me to come over?" Chiba said this in a very serious and rushed manner. The young male was willing and ready to sprint to her apartment in his home clothes. At the beginning of the conversation he was lying down on his bed, but now he was sitting straight up and ready to jump out of his window- he was on the first story- just to go and console his object of affection.

There was a giggle that came from her end of the line. "I wouldn't want to keep you from sleep," she said although she actually would've cherished Chiba's company. "Speaking of sleep, I've gotta catch a few Z's since I have work in an hour."

"Alright. Night, Ko-chan."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Sweet dreams."

After the call ended, Chiba was burning up from head to toe.

Oh my gosh. HAHAHAHA YEAH!! The girl I like just told me "Sweet dreams" over the phone!! It's like a dream come true!! Chiba thought while he rolled around a squealed into his pillow. His raucous caused his brother to shout at him through the walls.

Kozue wouldn't have work at the shoe boutique for the next couple of days so there was no way of knowing whether or not the lady return while she was away. It was also a kind of relief to not expect to see the wealthy lady at a different job.

It was Sunday now and Kozue was at work at the cosplay cafe. She was getting ready in the back of the shop when one of her coworkers told her that someone was waiting for her at the front of the cafe.

Kozue looked around the busy streets for some familiar faces, but the only faces she could see were curious ones that stared at her in her maid's outfit.

"Hey."

The voice was nearby and Kozue wheeled around to see Taira. Out of surprise, she literally jumped, but since she was wearing heels she stumbled backwards and fell on her bottom.

Kozue brushed the dirt off of her hands and her clothes. Taira took a quick moment to cherish the "moe" moment. He quickly went to help her up before any more otaku-folk took pictures of his unfortunate friend.

"Are you all right?" Taira asked once Kozue was well on her feet.

"Yeah, ha-ha," she laughed. "That was so embarrassing. Um, what did you come here for?"

"Uh..." The bass guitarist seemed to have forgotten why he was visiting so he made something up on the spot. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch together. I have something to tell you."

Kozue's eyes widened in disbelief and said, "Yeah! I mean, sure. That's sounds cool. I get off around two o'clock. Okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be back around then."

As cool as a cat, Taira strided out of the cafe, which was good because Kozue turned as red as a tomato from embarrassment. While she seated some customers, she mentally applauded herself on a good job on acting casual.

Meanwhile a couple stores over, Taira was sipping some soda he had just bought from a vending machine. The sight of his friend fallen over, in a very elaborate maid's outfit, her cat ears fallen forward over her eyes, and the overall embarrassed look on her face kept running through his mind. Any other thought was quickly pushed aside by the one of Kozue. It was as if the memory itself was saying "I'm more important than anything else you could otherwise be thinking" and for the most part it was.

His mind was still fuzzy when he got a call on his phone. "Hello?"

"Hey man." It was Chiba. Taira knew how much Chiba thought only the best of Kozue, although Chiba never actually admitted to anyone that he liked Kozue. "What's up?"

"...Wha-?" Taira was still panicking. He felt that Chiba knew Taira just visited Kozue. Chiba probably had a radar or something that told him when a guy gets too close to Kozue.

"I said, 'What's up?' Taira," he replied.

"Oh. 'What's up?' Nothing really. Just walking around." Taira sipped his drink. It had become lukewarm in the few minutes he held it.

"Are you alright man? You sound like you just ran from the cops or something?"

Without thinking much, Taira wiped his forehead of sweat and also spilled his drink down his shirt. "Oh god. I- I don't think I'm feeling too well. I think this heat is getting to me." It was the middle of autumn, there was barely any heat. Chiba could hear a bunch of teenage girls laughing in the background. "I'll call you back later, Chiba. I'll let you know if I feel any better."

After he hung up, Taira rushed home, where he could take a hot shower to get rid of the sticky and gross soda. He still didn't remember why he went to go see Kozue.

It was nearing the end of Kozue's shift when of course, something surprising happened.

A co-worker came running in and quickly looked for Kozue. "Oh my god! I need a really big favor Kozue-chan!"

Kozue's co-worker looked to be out of breath and in a big hurry. It must have been urgent because Kozue's shoulders were gripped so tightly, she thought her shoulders were going to be dislocated.

"What is it?"

"My mom's in labor! I'm gonna have a baby brother! Can you PLEASE cover my shift?!" Her co-worker seemed to need this favor so badly that she got into the deepest bow with her nose actually touching the floor.

Kozue quickly picked her up by the arm and said, "Yeah! No problem. I'll take care of it. The baby needs his big sister to welcome him into the world."

"Thank you so much Kozue-chan!" she said before giving Kozue a big hug and then running back out the door. With that said, Kozue got back to work and completely forgot about Taira.

After tightening her apron, the little cosplay maid brought out a cake with anime figurines on top for a customer in a reserved birthday area. A few of the other girls came out and brought candles.

It was ordinary to have planned birthdays at that kind of place, yet still Kozue was still pretty embarrassed to sing and do a sort of cheer. That of course, was her "moe" point.

"Yui-chan-"

"Kozue-chan-"

"-and Mayu-chan-"

The three of them introduces each other individually before saying in unison, "and the three of us maids would love to wish go-shuujin-sama a happy birthday!!" ("go-shuujin-sama" = master)

Everyone in the cafe clapped and Kozue went to greet in other customers.

She had just asked a group of people how many people were in their party when she saw a familiar blonde head behind the small crowd. "Excuse me a moment," she said with a kind of panic as she tried to walk around them, but ended up walking right into the glass door.

Taira, who was just on the other side of the door, saw the whole thing. He decided her "moe"-ness was at its highest in the cafe. And still, Taira had yet to remember what he came to that place for.

"Oh Taira!" her voice was apologetic. "I'm so sorry! One of my co-workers asked me to cover her shift and I just couldn't say no! I'm so sorry I forgot about-"

Taira raised his hand in an effort to stop her. "No, it's okay. If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind eating for a moment."

Her guilt seemed to dissolve immediately as a weird enthusiasm took over. "Well order anything you like! It'll be on the house!"

Before she happily shuffled back inside, Taira grabbed her hand. He did not expect what happened next. Nothing in his life had ever prepared him for something like that.

* * *

How was it? Was it good enough for 5 months? I don't know when I'll get started on the next chapter, but constant bugging with loving appreciation, would be a real jump start. If it wasn't for my friend JesiBearxx, I might've not finished up this chapter. Well, until next time!


	8. Collaborating a Broken Heart

I didn't believe I actually got this one written up so quickly. I guess after getting past writer's block at a certain part of the last chapter, I forgot how much of a roller coaster stories could be. I might hit another writer's block again soon though.

**Disclaimer: **If I could own Beck, I would, but I can't.

**Note: **In case some people haven't realized it yet, this is a weird love triangle story. TairaxOCxChiba or ChibaxOCxTaira. I'd like to hear who you want Kozue to end with. I already know who it's gonna be, but I'm just curious. Lol.

* * *

"Oh Taira!" her voice was apologetic. "I'm so sorry! One of my co-workers asked me to cover her shift and I just couldn't say no! I'm so sorry I forgot about-"

Taira raised his hand in an effort to stop her. "No, it's okay. If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind eating for a moment."

Her guilt seemed to dissolve immediately as a weird enthusiasm took over. "Well order anything you like! It'll be on the house!"

Before she happily shuffled back inside, Taira grabbed her hand. He did not expect what happened next. Nothing in his life had ever prepared him for something like that.

It was the weirdest shock of his already strange day.

Kozue had let out a very girly high-pitched yelp and slipped and ended up fallen on the ground for the second time. Of course by this time, she was thoroughly embarrassed and her face told no lies. She was as red as a fire truck.

The manager, being witness to all of her "moe" mishaps, let Kozue take a well deserved break, although the manager secretly wished that she had a good quality camera to capture all of Kozue's accidents. After work, the manager was plannign going to take home the security tape and post the parts with Kozue on the internet, hoping that would reel in even more customers.

Taira and Kozue sat outside the cafe at one of the patio tables to talk. He had an awkward time apologizing to her. "Sorry about what happened just now... and for earlier."

"Oh it's not your problem!" she assured him as she held an ice pack to her forehead, where she ran into the door. "I never realized how clean our glass doors were."

They laughed and Taira said, "Well, when I grabbed you, I didn't expect you to scream like that. I almost died of shock."

Kozue made an apologetic face and glanced inside the cafe. She pushed out her chair and said, "I'm sorry, but I really should get back to work. It's still pretty busy."

"Yeah, no problem."

"You can still have anything you want on the house-"

The blonde teen was getting quite a few stares as he was talking to a girl in a maid's outfit and they were talking right on the main street. "Actually, I was gonna say something about that. I don't mind paying at all, but if it's not too much to ask, I'd like if you'd waitress for me."

The ice pack that she was still holding against her head had melted completely now and Kozue looked like she had a terrible fever. "Yeah! Sure thing!" she said and stood up quickly, pulled out small menu, and placed it before him. "I'll leave you some time to decide what you want to order."

After his midday snack, Taira finally remembered why he went to see Kozue in the first place. It was hard for him to break the news especially after everything that happened so far that day.

"Uh, Kozue?" He stood up and walked over to her. "Can... I have a quick word?"

Kozue used sign language lingo to tell one of her co-workers that she was going to step out for a bit.

"What is it?"

"It's about the part-time job as a traffic officer..."

She held her breath for an answer.

"My supervisor ended up hiring his nephew and he fired the guy he replaced. Sorry about that."

Kozue wasn't really upset by it. She realized that she should've written up a resume and delivered it herself. Her references alone probably would've landed her the job. Then she would've been able to work a bit or maybe even permanently with Taira, the guy whom she adores and dreams of twisting a lock of his blonde hair around her finger-

"Anyway, I've gotta get going," he said interrupting her thoughts. "I'd really like to hang out again though."

"Sure thing!" Again, her sadness was diminished in a flash. "Oh. I'm pretty busy this week though."

"...Aren't you busy everyday?"

Kozue laughed when she realized how true he was. "I've managed to squish in a little Kozue-time for myself a lot lately. You told me about how Chiba was feeling in the dumps lately, so we're having a collaboration kind of gig later this week. Maybe you should come and watch."

'Her and Chiba?' he thought skeptically. Taira agreed to go and Kozue gave him the time and the place of the gig.

That entire day was relayed to Hideaki, who cracked up every single time Kozue had a mishap. He was also invited to the gig. It was a very good day for Kozue though.

The night before the actual gig, Kozue and Chiba had to squeeze their practice into the wee hours of the night talking about beats and lyrics and switching off and stage set-up...

Two hours of cramming every creative idea think up and it proved very successful. What easily could've taken five or six hours was accomplished in less than half the time. They didn't rush just because they had a gig the following night, but Kozue had sacrificed precious hours of sleep and had work in just a couple of minutes.

While working at the convenience store, Hideaki wanted to talk to her but she was busy muttering some lyrics to herself, naming a sequence of beats based on its sound, and humming certain rhythms. It wasn't until they had actual customers did she keep momentarily quiet.

"Oh! Koyuki. Saku. Long time no see guys. What have you been up to?" Although Kozue was making conversation, Hideaki her mind was elsewhere as she awkwardly bobbed her head every once in a while.

"We just finished up practice with everyone but Chiba," Saku said.

"Yeah, he's still pretty down in the dumps," Koyuki agreed. "Have you talked ot him lately."

"Yeah, we were just hanging out actually. We have a collaboration gig tomorrow. I don't know if he's gotten over it yet, since we haven't actually discussed it yet... but I want you guys to come," she said and wrote down where and when on a napkin. "I invited Taira as well."

"What about Ray?" Koyuki asked.

Kozue put on a clearly forced smile and said, "If he finds out about this on his own, then he's welcome to come and join the party.

Saku looked at the clock on the wall and said, "I better hurry home. My parents might freak again."

"Yeah," Koyuki replied and they quickly bought midnight snacks and bid Kozue a goodnight.

The rest of the day, Kozue was extremely tired, but seemed to work twice as hard and seemed even more focused on work. It seemed like someone else was working for her while she went over the two hour cram session in her mind very carefully.

Then when she went to her job at the shoe boutique, it was like everything that just happened went in reverse and disappeared. The wealthy woman from the previous week was back!

Kozue tried to not make it obvious that she was working. Luckily, before the young girl had a some kind of fit, the wealthy lady noticed Kozue and beckoned her over.

"I've been coming to this place nearly everyday looking for you. I hope you didn't forget that I have shoes on hold here." Her voice was playful.

"Sorry about that," she replied in a light-hearted tone. "I only work here two days of the week."

"Well I'd love to buy those shoes now." The lady smiled and Kozue led her over to the cash register.

After the expensive purchase, the lady formally introduced myself. "I've taken quite a liking to you girl. What's your name?"

At this question, Kozue stood up very straight. "Kozue Annen. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

The lady laughed and replied, "I'm Shiori Miyake. Nice to meet you too. Say, can I take you out to dinner as a way of saying thank you?"

"That sounds like a great offer Miss Miyake, but you've already gotten me a raise in my paycheck. I think I should be thanking you."

"I won't take no for an answer."

This put Kozue in a tight spot. "Well, this week I can't. Usually I'd have tonight free but I'm kind of doing this gig thing-"

"Then as a way of saying thank you for your wonderful service, allow me to come and support you. I'll even bring my husband. He's a well-known music producer," Shiori said with a wink.

Kozue's brain literally froze for several moments.

_...Wait. This could end up like I'm being scouted like in sports. But this is just a hobby of mine. There's no way I'd become famous. This couldn't be like a "rags to riches" kind of story, could it?_

Her mind kept swimming in between the negative and positives of her own absurd assumption. When she didn't come to any kind of conclusion besides waiting and seeing, Kozue wrote down the place and the time gratefully. She also wrote down her home phone just in case Shiori needed help finding the place.

She and Chiba both needed all the support they could get.

After work, Kozue went to the venue, where she and Chiba were to perform and used their fancy equipment to whip up some basic beats that she could scratch over and experiment with later.

Chiba arrived just minutes after she did, carrying his own microphone and plugs. When Kozue spotted him, she nearly knocked over all the electrical equipment as she raced over to tell him the extraordinary news.

Chiba didn't take the news so well as she did. He panicked, which made her ant to panic. "I should've worn better clothes! Maybe even pretended to be sick to focus better! I should be worrying about rapping not about grades!"

"Chiba calm down! We shouldn't get our hopes up!" she said while taking him by the shoulders. "Remember: we didn't plan this person on joining us. We had this gig in mind as something to have fun with... and I know we haven't talked about this much, but you're still in Beck and I would feel guilty if I broke up such a great band."

Chiba looked at her as if seeing her in a new light. He smirked and said, "Damn straight I'm still in Beck. How's about we knock the crowd's socks off with our mad collaboration skills?"

"Sounds pretty insanely awesome!" she replied and they high-fived before starting an intense five minute rehearsal session. Just because they were just playing around, doesn't mean they weren't serious about it. Cramming is all about being serious.

People started filing in slowly and it took a while before it was kind of crowded. Kozue didn't see Shiori or any of the other guys from Beck, but Shiori probably didn't want her or her husband to be harassed by fans and the guys probably didn't want to upset Chiba by being there.

When it was starting to get a little noisy, Chiba and Kozue were signaled that they could start at any moment.

"What's up, peeps!" Chiba shouted into the microphone and Kozue was ready with some cool background noise. "We're Ko..." Right on the spot he came up with a name for their two person performance. "WE'RE KOCHI!!" ("Kochi" means "here". It's kind of a play on words.)

Chiba's rapping was like lightning; he was sharp and potentially deadly. While Kozue's DJing could be compared to the ocean; at times calm and soothing, but at other times intense and exciting.

It soon came to their last song of their set. It was a jumble of unfinished songs by both Kozue and Chiba carefully edited to make one completely radical song. To rap while DJing, Kozue had prepared a full track to the entire song ahead of time, with sparkles of interesting sounds already added. When the beat started, the two of them were in the zone.

_[Chiba:]_

_This time, I'm trying to speak, not shout_

_Trying to figure out life and what it's about_

_Speaking my mind is like riding a bike with training wheels_

_Getting used to pedaling, getting used to the feel_

_Riding down the street, I feel kinda nostalgic_

_Not much of a though, but in my mind there's a click_

_That makes me feel warm and funny_

_Makes my mind blank out and feel like putty_

_[Kozue:]_

_Only a couple of years in the making_

_Don't be fooled, my knees are shaking_

_Taking a step in the big, wide world_

_In just a minute, I think I'm gonna hurl_

_This planet must be playing a trick on me_

_I'm blinded with possibilities, I really can't see_

_[Chorus]_

_How's it going?_

_I'm running out of luck and nearly out of money_

_Waiting for a rainy day, but it's still damn sunny_

_Eyes on the prize, but no goals in my eyes_

_No idea how to survive_

_[Kozue:]_

_Ni hao, konnichiwa, what's up my friends?_

_When I'm with you guys I wish my day never ends_

_Even if we drive down to a dead end_

_The fun never stops even after the sun sets_

_[Chorus]_

_[Chiba:]_

_Sitting on the couch, watching TV_

_It may not be special, but it's enough believe me_

_Laughing and talking is always fun_

_No need to change out ways if it's goos for you too, hun_

_[Instrumental moment]_

_[Kozue:]_

_I've got time to live and survive_

_[Chiba:]_

_This crazy world won't let me live a boring life._

The crowd was quiet for a split second before cheering loudly. Proud of their big achievement, they had a quick hug onstage before Chiba went to say something to the crowd.

"Give it up for the hippest chick I know, KOZUE ANNEN!" The crowd whooped and then Kozue booty bumped him so she could have the microphone and the spotlight.

"A warm round of applause for the most wicked rapper out there, TSUNEMI CHIBA!!"

The crowd roared and whistled as both of them bowed and walked off stage and were congratulated by their friends. Chiba was enjoying the success of it all that he was over grieving over his problems. It was a great moment in both of their lives.

Then, shouting and echoing seemed to work its way over to the group. Everyone there looked towards the stairwell expectantly. Suddenly a little boy came tumbling into view with a security guard chasing after him.

"Nee-san! Onee-san!"

Takeshi.

Kozue ran over to him and quickly pulled him away from the bouncer. "Takeshi, what are you doing here?"

"Nee-san, Satoshi ran away!" he was panting, obviously from struggling past the security guard and probably running all the way there.

"What happened?!"

Takeshi looked down shamefully, which made Kozue all the more worried. "Well we kinda had a fight at school today. I didn't hit him this time..."

Thoughts raced through her mind all at once. She was barely paying attention to what was happening around her.

Chiba placed a hand on her shoulder and seemed to speak for all of Beck. "We'll help you look for him."

Although in a very delicate state, Kozue tried to muster up a smile for them. "Thanks you guys, but I really think I can find-"

"Quit acting like you can do everything by yourself, nee-san!" Takeshi said angrily. "Even Ultraman had help!"

All of the guys agreed wholeheartedly with that statement.

"Okaa-san is out looking for him too," Takeshi said.

"Taira, can you help my brother find my mom? I'm sure she'll be easier to find. Bring them back home please. I think my mother would like the company."

"You got it."

Ryusuke, Koyuki, and Saku all left too. They decided that where they were would be the meeting place seeing as not all of them knew where Kozue's apartment was.

Chiba had stayed behind with Kozue. They hung out right outside the front door for signs of any of their friends. Giving Kozue her space, he stood a foot behind her and kept quiet. He waited for her to talk to him.

It didn't take long for her to crack.

Slowly with a slight wobble, Kozue turned to look at him. Tears were already streaming down her eyes. Her shoulders were shaking tremendously, but she was so quiet.

"Oh, Chiba." Without missing a beat, Kozue flung herself into Chiba and cried.

It was shocking at first, but he wasn't scared of what was happening. Chiba would've probably freaked out if it were any other girl crying in his arms, but with Kozue, it felt like he wanted to do all he could to heart stop from breaking. All he could do was wrap his arms tightly around her, assuring her that he wasn't going anywhere, and wait for someone to come back.

* * *

Oooh. Was that interesting or what? How was the song? I'd really like to hear what you think. You can submit reviews as anonymous, by the way. In case you didn't know that already.


	9. Ultraman to the Rescue!

It's been forever since I uploaded a story! This was sitting in my documents and I decided to go on and upload it. Just so everyone knows, I actually had a complete schedule for Kozue written out and everything so I have no idea at the moment what day of the week it's supposed to be in the story if I find the inspiration to continue to write. It's also a little short, I think, but I thought it ended pretty well.

* * *

"Oh, Chiba." Without missing a beat, Kozue flung herself into Chiba and cried.

It was shocking at first, but he wasn't scared of what was happening. Chiba would've probably freaked out if it were any other girl crying in his arms, but with Kozue, it felt like he wanted to do all he could to heart stop from breaking. All he could do was wrap his arms tightly around her, assuring her that he wasn't going anywhere, and wait for someone to come back.

Kozue was sobbing harder than ever and for the first time in quite a while. Although we wasn't making much noise, her shoulders were shaking fiercely. Chiba tried his hardest to make sure Kozue knew he wasn't just about to get up and leave her, and yet at the same time he tried not to suffocate her in his manly chest.

Shiori was standing nearby with her husband, nearly heartbroken at the sight. All she could do for Kozue was to write a note and give it to Chiba to pass on.

When her crying had died down, Chiba went back inside the club and brought out a glass of water. He sat down next to her on the sidewalk and handed her the drink. "Here."

She took a tiny sip before handing it back.

"Maybe this is a sign that I should give up all this DJ nonsense." Kozue's voice was tired and you could tell her nose was stuffed up.

Chiba put the drink to his side and scooted closer to Kozue so he could put his arm around her. "Now _that _is nonsense," he said quietly and she let out a harsh laugh. "I'm serious. We're going to find your brother, Ko-chan. I know it. I also know how much you love and live to DJ. You're gonna be big one day. I wouldn't be surprised if you were international."

Wiping her eyes with her already drenched sleeves, she let out a real chuckle. "You and I both know that that's impossible."

The big punked out softie looked at her seriously and said with a smile, "You don't believe me? Trust me, Chiba knows what he speaks."

"HA!" she laughed in his face and he stood up. Despite a good laugh, reality came crashing back down. She still didn't know where Satoshi was and none of the guys were anywhere in sight. Her face was buried in her hands once more.

Without a word, Chiba sat by her side and hugged her again.

After half an hour, Chiba decided for both of them that it was already very late.

"Hey, it's getting too late. I'll walk you home now," he said quietly.

Kozue burst out in tears at the thought of her family. "I can't go back home! Not while Satoshi is still out there! None of the guys have come back yet either."

Various thoughts ran through Chiba's mind, but only one strangely appealed to him: Bring Kozue back to his place.

_I _can't _bring her back to my place! I'm not some creep that leads their vulnerable friends into a trap! But it does make sense. She can't stay here all night waiting for someone to show up. ...This would probably be a much easier decision if I didn't like her and if she wasn't so damn cute even while crying! _Chiba mentally sighed and regained seriousness. _As a good friend, I'll help her out. That is what a man would do. It's just like finding a drenched puppy on the street._

He kneeled down in front of her and gently said, "Alright then, you won't go home. How about we go to my house and just rest? I'm certain the guys don't mind looking for your brother. You've probably been up all day. Just a little rest in a warm house won't hurt. Does that sound okay?"

Kozue's face was still hidden in her hands. "Web bot gog te ma ows ite?" came her warbled reply.

"No, we won't go to your house," he replied and quickly left to tell the bartender to relay a message if Ryusuke, Saku, Taira, or Koyuki came back.

When he returned, he sucked up all the courage he had and held Kozue's hand all the way to his house, where he had to quickly explain to his mother why he was bringing home a girl on a school day. His father, however, gave him a high five.

After convincing his mother, Chiba let Kozue stay in his room while he shared with his brother.

Meanwhile, Koyuki ran back to the venue in hopes of reporting back to Kozue. When the bartender relayed the message that Chiba had brought Kozue to his place, Koyuki called the others and let them know the situation.

"Kozue is at Chiba's," Koyuki said to Ryusuke. "The bartender told me. What should we do?"

"...Keep looking. I'll head over to Chiba's place and tell him what's happened."

Ryusuke arrived at Chiba's place and instead of ringing the doorbell, he called Chiba's phone.

"Hey man. Let me in. I'm outside."

The door opened just a few seconds later and Chiba let him in. The two of them sat down in the living room, Chiba sitting on the couch and Ryusuke on the sofa chair.

"You better have good news Ryusuke." Chiba lowered his voice. "She's seriously upset."

"Yeah. There's a small problem," Ryusuke said in an annoying laid back kind of way. "Koyuki found out from a shopkeeper that he saw a little boy running in the streets with some thugs chasing him by the run down theater."

Chiba stood up immediately and headed straight for his brother's room.

Ryusuke could hear awkward thuds and a series of grunts from Chiba. "Ow! Yes! I can, in fact, see you writing words down! Stop throwing your damn pillows- OUCH!" At that last shout, Chiba's brother had thrown a clock at him.

Chiba came back out with a bunch of clothes and a mask. Without so much as an explanation, Chiba shed his current clothes and jumped into an Ultraman costume before running out of the house. Ryusuke sighed and followed far behind.

Back at Chiba's house, Kozue was dressed in Chiba's clothes and curled up in his bed. Her eyes were wide open staring off into space with her mind completely blank. Even if Kozue were able to concentrate, sleep would be the absolutely last thing on her mind.

All of the guys had gotten the message and ran to the run down theater. None of them saw Satoshi or the thugs anywhere, until they heard someone shout angrily in a nearby alley.

The thugs' backs were to them and they could just barely see Satoshi in the moonlight. Taira, Saku, and Koyuki were all pretty shocked when they saw Ultraman running around the corner.

"Koyuki, tonight is just crazy," Saku whispered.

Ryusuke jogged around the corner and Koyuki whispered back, "No kidding. Who has an Ultraman suit anyway?"

The four bandmates watched with their eyes straining to see in the darkness as their MC kicked the bad guys' butts and save the litttle boy.

"Are you alright, Satoshi-kun?" Chiba asked in his deepest voice while extending a hand for Satoshi to take.

Despite the scrape on his knee, Satoshi got up on his own and brushed himself off. "You're not kidding anyone in those clothes," he replied coldly. "There is no real Ultraman. Santa isn't real either. Even I know that much."

Chiba stood up and looked down at Satoshi. "Anyone can be a hero, Satoshi-kun. Some just choose to wear awesome costumes." he said. "It's late and your onee-san must be worried sick. Let's go home."

Reluctantly, Satoshi let Chiba take his hand and on the way out of the alley, the other guys hid.

"How do you know my name?" Satoshi asked with a frown on his face. "How do you know I have a sister?"

"Your brother, Takeshi-kun, called Ultraman and asked for a favor. He said his onee-san was very worried about Satoshi-kun so he asked me to find you," Chiba said.

"How come my onee-san isn't here?"

Out of the corner of the mask's eye hole, Chiba stole a quick glance at Satoshi. "I'll only tell you because you're mature for your age. Your onee-san blames herself."

"For what?"

"She blames herself for you running away," Chiba explained slowly. "She thinks that because she was taking a moment to have some fun, Kami-sama decided to punish her for DJing."

"God punished her?"

"No. Kami-sama was just letting her know that sometimes, in the future, there's gonna be struggles between work and home, but that they're going to be resolved given time."

"So what is she going to do?"

They were at the front of Satoshi's apartment building. Chiba let go of the boy's hand. "She's gonna get back on her feet after feeling better."

They walked up the stairs to Kozue's apartment and knocked on the door. The door opened. It was Kyoko, Kozue's mom.

"Satoshi!" she held onto her son. Chiba could see her eyes were red and swollen from crying. In the background, he could see Takeshi pretending to be asleep. "I'm so glad you're back home! Thank you... Ultraman."

"ULTRAMAN!" Takeshi shouted and ran to the front door. "Satoshi! You're so lucky!"

"You're the one who called, didn't you, Takeshi-kun?" Chiba asked. "I could hear you call for me in your thoughts."

"You heard?" Takeshi was ecstatic. "I didn't think it would work! Thank you Ultraman!"

Chiba turned to the other twin. "Satoshi-kun," he said and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "properly apologize to your mother."

Satoshi stood straight and bowed deeply towards his mother. "I'm very sorry, okaa-san."

Kyoko wiped her tears and hugged him. "All that matters is that you're home," she said. "Go head inside and I'll take care of your knee in a moment. I'm going to have a word with Ultraman."

Kozue's mom and Chiba were standing in the stairwell and the other four members of Beck decided to join them. She bowed at a complete ninety degree angle and said, "I'm so sorry you had to look for my son."

Chiba pulled off his mask and said in a soft tone, "There's no need to apologize. We were just worried about your daughter."

"Kozue is a very nice person," Koyuki spoke up. "I don't know if she told you this, but she saved me from a bunch of bullies when I was elementary school. From then on, we became friends. I still have yet to thank her properly for that."

From behind everyone, Ryusuke muttered, "I kind of borrowed money from her and have yet to pay her back..."

"Kozue has such good friends," Kyoko said nearly on the verge of newly formed tears. "Thank you so much from bringing Satoshi back home. Everyone should head home now, it's already very late. Be careful. Thank you again!"

The guys started making their way down the stairs, but Chiba stayed behind to have a quick word with Kozue's mother.

"I'm sorry, Annen-san. Kozue is staying the night at my place. She felt guilty about what happened and didn't want to go home. I promise I'll take good care of her and I promise won't lay a hand on her-"

Kyoko stopped him by smiling. "Let her know that... when she's ready... she can come back home," she said and bowed again. "I'm sorry she's taken up residence in your home."

"Wha- No- It's not... a problem really." With his mask off, Kyoko could clearly see the blush on his cheeks.

"Please, walk home safely," she said and Chiba went back home.

The sky was light by the time he got back home. Even though he was still dressed as Ultraman, Chiba knew that he had to go wake Kozue up and tell her the good news.

* * *

Reading this, my writing seems a lot better than I remember. Reviews would be more than appreciated. I need it at this moment. Please and thank you!


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